Like the Stars at Night
by fortheloveoforange
Summary: A human-turned-Eevee; an adventurous Riolu — bound by destiny. As they say: take hold of your destiny; or else it will take hold of you — and that’s exactly what they plan on doing. (Loosely based off Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon.)
1. Notes & Prologue

**AUTHOR'S NOTE AND PROLOGUE**

* * *

Ok, author here. I'm finally making non-oneshot multi-chapter stories again, starting with this one. I reckon it's going to be quite long, so I'll try my hardest to balance my time in writing.

Let's get some things cleared first.

This story will be LOOSELY based off the Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon game. By loosely, I mean some plotlines will remain, however they will be altered for the story's purpose. Furthermore, some characters will be replaced as I see fit. This includes the main protagonist, Eevee. I know that Eevee is not a player character in the game, however, the flow in my head needed an Eevee. The story will not particularly contain the game's dialogue, however, due to the nature of the story, there may be spoilers for the game. If you haven't played PSMD but wish to, head the warning.

MOREOVER, the main character relationship in here will be yaoi, or male/male. Because that's what I want. Yes, the Eevee is male in here.

Now for some **disclaimers:**

I do not own Pokemon, or any of the Mystery Dungeon series games. I also do not own the plot for Super Mystery Dungeon, as well as the characters in this story present in the game. They all belong to the rightful producers of said game(s).

I do claim ownership, however, for any additional plotlines, and ideas for the replacement characters.

I hope you all enjoy this story. I've been meaning to make this ever since I've finished Super Mystery Dungeon (which was way long ago), but due to constraints, I've been pushing it back.

Some additional info: This story will be rated T for the meantime. I may or may not change it soon.

Happy Reading!

* * *

 **PROLOGUE**

 _The world of Pokemon._

In this world, marvelous creatures known as Pokemon roam and live - from day to day events, these Pokemon have adapted to many environments; the land, the sea, the sky, the heat, the cold. Pokemon are scattered all across the globe, and most live in peace and harmony, free from fright, from doom.

Until now.

 _ **Somewhere, up an unknown tower...**_

Opening its eyes, the Pokemon looks around. Nothing out of place, nothing distorted.

So why...?

The Pokemon seemed a little groggy, like it has surfaced from a long sleep. It was somehow awakened from its original lair, an essence of power triggering it to arrive at the scene.

Suddenly, its body senses something...something... _ominous._

"This is..." The Pokemon stands alert. The golden arches on its back seemed to glow, feeling an aura amiss.

The Pokemon then leaps to the sky, galloping as if the air were solid, and looks down on the currently peaceful scene before it.

"I see...It has returned."

* * *

From space, a creature, a Pokemon, sets it sights on Earth. Feeling rather accomplished on nearly arriving on the planet, it starts to approach closer. The Pokemon, however, stops as a sudden blast of solar wind tingles its body.

 _'That's weird...'_

The Pokemon then notices something - someone, approach his direction with an unfathomable speed.

"That's...!"

A green, snake - like creature then rushes past it, fear imminent on its face. The Pokemon observes as the creature fades into space, seemingly escaping...running away.

"Wasn't that...a Rayquaza...?" it ponders to itself.

Rayquaza were known to inhabit the Earth's ozone layer, so seeing one fly past itself with what seemed like fear, brought shivers down the Pokemon's tentacle-like appendages. The orb on its chest sent signals of caution, prompting the Pokemon to look at the planet before it.

 _'Something...something is terribly off with this planet...'_


	2. Chapter 1

_**Notes: This story will hopefully be regularly updated by week. If the plan goes well, there shoud be two chapter per update, thought that is not assured. Anyways, from here on out, the author's note will be displayed after the chapter, to avoid confusion.**_

* * *

 **CHAPTER 1**  
 **This Doesn't Make Any Sense!**

A fresh breeze wafts through the leaves of a certain forest. The chirping of multiple bird Pokemon is imminent, granting a sing-song like tree orchestra.

There, in a riverbend, lies an unconscious Pokemon.

A small Paras, curious, approaches the body and nudges it with its claw. The Pokemon shifts, emitting a low groan, surprising the Paras; who runs off to the bushes.

The Pokemon stands on it four legs, dirt all over its fur. Groaning, he opens his eyes and scans his surroundings.

"Where...where am I...?" looking around, he notices where he is, unknowingly.

"I...don't remember..." he looks down, and emits a squeak when he sees his hands - er, paws.

"Wh-what am I?!" panicking, he jumps around, failing to see the water behiind him, causing his to trip and splash on the river.

"Ahh!" hurrying, he pulls himself out, his fur dripping wet. He looks closely at the water, hoping to see his reflection.

A small, brown face with long ears, and a tuft of fur on the neck, with dark groggy, sleepy eyes stare right back at his - a very worn out Eevee.

When he realizes, he screams.

"I'M A POKEMON?!" The Pokemon at the trees fly away, shocked by the sudden loud exclamation.

"B-But...but how, but why..?!" he tries to concentrate and dig into his brain for any sort of solution, to no avail.

"Why can't I remember anything?!"

As he fumbles around, he fails to notice the emergence of three odd Pokemon from the maze of trees. The Pokemon look at each other, blinking the lights on their hands, as if communicating. The Eevee then takes notice, and freezes in place as the three approach.

"Who...who are you?" he asks, wary. Out of nowhere, one of the three suddenly launches a wave of pink energy towards him. Surprised, he jumps away, barely dodging the attack.

"W-what was that for?!" his voice, imminent with fear, as he dodges another beam from his attackers. Spooked, he runs off, the three Pokemon trailing after him.

 _'Whatever they are...They're not very happy to see me!'_ he looks behind, seeing his pursuers almost catch up to him. Distracted, he failed to see a walking Pokemon in front, and crashes to it head-on.

"Ahhh!" the Nuzleaf shrieks in surprise, rubbing his stomach area, where the Eevee crashed into. "Watch where you're going!"

"S-Sorry!" quickly, he starts to dash off, but is stopped when one of the Pokemon appear before his.

"Eek!" he stumbles back to the Nuzleaf, and bothe are surrounded by the Pokemon.

"Beheeyem?! What are they doing here?!" the Nuzleaf asks, surprised by the seemingly sudden turn of events.

"I don't know! They were chasing after me for some reason!" the Eevee replies as the Beheeyem starts charging an attack.

"Well whatever you did, they're not happy about it! RUN!" the Nuzleaf grabs the Eevee by the tail, dragging him off just as the Beheeyem fire their attack.

The two keep on running, until they reach a deeper part of the forest.

"Oh no...no, no, no, no," the Nuzleaf looks around, cautious of the environment.

"What's wrong?!"

"Kid, we just wandered to a mystery dungeon! This ain't good..." he ponders for a moment.

The pair then hear the distinct sound of the clicking of the Beheeyem, startled, the pair looks at each other.

"We've got no choice! Come one!" the Nuzleaf quickly runs ahead, the Eevee behind.

"What's...a mystery...dungeon?" the Eevee asks between breaths of running. The Nuzleaf, still running, looks behind.

"No time to explain! Just follow my lead!"

The pair then traverse through this 'mystery dungeon', as the Nuzleaf states, as fast as theycould carry themselves, wary of the Beheeyem after them. they reach a clearing, which prompts the Nuzeaf to stop and take a breath of relief.

The Eevee also stops and drops in fatigue. Just a moment ago he'd woken up as a Pokemon, and now he's being chased by a bunch of scary Beheeyem!

"Glad that's over," the Nuzleaf pants out. "We should have lost them back in the dungeon...I hope."

Panting, the Eevee shakily stands. "Thanks for saving my tail back there," the Nuzleaf notices his fatigue and hands his a round blue-ish berry. "Eat this. It should help you get your strength back."

As he does, he immediately feels a surge of energy rise to his. he hastily eats the rest of the berry, realizing he's famished.

"Hmmm...I've never seen an Eevee around here before," the Nuzleaf questions. "You aren't from here, aren't you?"

"I...don't know," the Eevee replies, finishing off the berry. "I woke up, and...AHH! A TALKING NUZLEAF!"

The Eevee was so panicked he didn't even notice who helped his, and the Nuzleaf steps back in shock.

"Y-You're talking!" the Eevee clarifies, and the Nuzleaf looks in worry.

"Look who's talking!" the Nuzleaf answers back. Remembering his sudden state as a Pokemon, the Eevee jumps in shock.

"Look..kid, you're clearly not from here, and something is _definitely_ wrong with your head," he sighs. "Let me take you back where I live, we'll talk there. I'm Nuzleaf, by the way. Call me Aprie."

"I'm...uh...ahh-erm,"

"C'mon, you gotta at least know your name!"

The Eevee concentrates. Name...name...what was it again...? Something with an M...

"Miles! That's it! ...I think," Miles shakes his head, quite unsure, but goes along with it. Aprie nods.

"Well then, nice to meet you Miles! Come on, we're headed to my house, right?"

"Y-Yeah! Thank you...and nice to meet you too Aprie!" the Nuzleaf then walks on, with the Eevee trailing behind.

The walk was quite long, with Aprie bombarding the Eevee with questions. Miles however, couldn't answer in definite.

"So...let me get this straight. You're a human, but somehow turned into a Pokemon?" Aprie clarifies, earning a nod from Miles.

"And you couldn't remember anything from before you woke up...Hmmn, that doesn't answer why the Beheeyem were so persistent in catching you."

"I'm so confused too! None of this makes sense..." Miles huffs a groan.

"Well, in any case...Here we are!" Aprie points to a close village, relief on his face.

"Miles, welcome to Serene Village!"

* * *

 _ **That was quite short, haha. Next chapter(s) will be longer, I promise. Plus, there will be lots of additional dialogue, just to add. Also, don't worry. There won't be any immediate romance. That will come on later on in the story.**_


	3. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**  
 **Serene Village**

"Well, here we are. Home sweet home!" Aprie stretches out his hands, relieved. "Come on in Miles, make yourself at home."

"T-Thank you. It's awfully kind of you to let me rest here, Aprie."

"Don't sweat it. You can stay here as long as you like! A kid like you with no memories...that's a call for danger! Although..."

Miles looks at Aprie in confusion, curious as to what he was thinking about.

"Hmmm. It might be suspicious for an Eevee like you to be suddenly out here. Let's see...I'll have to enrol you to the school here, then."

"School? ...Er, okay," Miles tilts his head. _"School...where did I hear that before...?"_

Aprie, noticing the Eevee's confusion, pipes up. "School is a place for kids like you to learn! I'll go ahead and enroll you ASAP. In the meantime, there's a haybed in the room over there," Nuzleaf points to the next room. "The kitchen's over here - don't eat all the berries when I'm gone." he intructs. Miles nods.

"And don't go outside! We still don't know where those Beheeyem went. We don't want to cause ruckus at the town."

Again, Miles nods. Aprie waves off as he heads out the door, and the Eevee immediately flops down to bed, not minding the bed of hay - it was pretty comfortable, despite how it looks.

Miles shuts his eyes, thinking to go for a nap. The events of today made his head spin, and the 'Mystery Dungeon' they traversed drained him out. He'll have to ask what exactly a mystery dungeon is from Aprie later, but all Miles wants to do now is take a big snooze.

Around ten minutes later, he is awoken by a sudden crash by the window, followed by murmuring of pain. Cautious, the Eevee heads for the scene. Was it the Beheeyem...? Did they find him...?

"Hello!" a head pops out from outside, causing Miles to fall back, shrieking in surprise.

"Oh, I'm sorry! Didn't mean to surprise you like that," the strangers scratches its head in apology, but Miles still backs away in fright.

"Oh no, no! It's okay!" the Pokemon assures. "I'm your neighbor! I saw Mr. Aprie come back a while ago with you, so I thought I'd say hi! Although...I guess I woke you up from hitting my head on the window frame, he he..." the Pokemon says sheepishly.

Miles observes the stranger - a blue, canine-esque Pokemon. The black mark on its face made it look like a mask, and the ears looked floppy. Behind, Miles noticed a thick tail, slightly bent at the tip.

"I've never seen an Eevee before! What's your name?" the Pokemon asks bluntly. Miles slowly relaxes as he sits up, still cautious of the Pokemon.

"It's...uh...Miles."

"Miles huh? I'm Rafael! But everyone calls me Raf. I'm a Riolu!" Raf raises his arms up, as if to say hi.

"Is...is that so..?"

"Yep! As I said, I live next door with my pops," he points at the house behind him. "And you? Are you Mr. Aprie's child or something?"

"N-No..." Miles ponders for a bit, searching for an answer. "He's...he's my uncle! Yeah, my uncle."

"Uncle, huh? I didn't know Mr. Aprie had a family! He always seemed to keep for himself most of the time," the Riolu stops to think. "Oh well. C'mon! Since you're new here, I'll show you around town!"

"I...I don't think..."

"Come on! I'm not taking no for an answer!" he interrupts. Sighing in defeat, Miles jumps up and out the window, now face to face with the Riolu.

"This way!" he runs off, and Miles chases after him, albeit very tired.

* * *

"So here's the town," Raf stops at the center, and presents the town to Miles. "Serene Village is quite small, but we have everything we need! Right there is Mrs. Kanga's cafe...right there is the Kecleon shop...over there's the Slam School, then the Locksmith is over there," he points at a weird - key ring like Pokemon, and then blabbers on. "The theatre's there, ooh...and over there's the Glorious Gold!"

Miles seemed impressed by Raf's chatter...which seemed to go on and on and on.

"And down that road..." he points to a path beside the cafe. "Is the Serene Village school!" he exclaims in excitement. "Didja get all that Miles?"

"Ye-Yeah...I think i got it all..."

"Well then up next is -"

"Hold it, young man!" by the voice, both Miles and Raf squeak in surprise. The Riolu slowly turns around cautiously, face to face with a quite irritated looking turtle.

"Ee! H-Hiya, pops!" the Riolu flashes a grin, which only intensified the turtle's glare, sending shivers down Miles' spine.

"Don't 'hiya pops' me! Don't you have chores to do, young man?!" he bellows out. Raf nervously laughs.

"W-Well, I was about to do them, but then I saw Mr Aprie come in and -"

"No excuses! Go back home and do your chores!"

"Yes sir!" with a quick glance and wave at Miles, the Riolu rushes back to his house.

"That kid sometimes..." the Pokemon, who Raf called his pops, muttered under his breath. He takes notice of Miles and raises an eye.

"Hm? And who might you be?" he looks at the Eevee.

"U-U-Um...hi?"

"Miles, there you are!" the Eevee sighs in relief with the voice of Aprie, headed toward his direction. "I was worried when I came back and didn't find you anywhere!"

"Hmmn? Aprie, this your kid?" the turtle asked.

"E-Eh, not really, Mon. H-he's..." right then, Miles mouths the word 'nephew' to him.

"Nephew! He's my nephew! Isn't that right Miles?" the Eevee nods in reponse. the turtle shrugs, giving Miles a pat on the head.

"Is that so? Nice to meet you then, Miles, was it? I hope Rafael didn't cause you trouble. That Riolu is a bit of a hardhead sometimes. A bit more and this Carracosta's going to loose his shell!"

"N-No, not really, Mr...Carracosta, sir. Raf was just...showing me around!" Miles assures.

"Call me Mon, from here on. Anyway, I have things to do. See you around!" and with that, the Carracosta waves off.

Once out of sight, Aprie lets out a sigh of relief.

"Well, now that Mon knows, the whole town will catch wind. Guess we'll have to keep this uncle-nephew thing up, huh?" Aprie scratches his head.

"Yeah...I guess so," Miles replies.

"Let's head back then. Your first day of school is tomorrow. Might be a bit easier since you already know Raf," Aprie says. Miles nods in response, yawning from the events today.

And so they both head back to Aprie's home, Miles immediately knocked out, asleep.

* * *

 _Later that night, somewhere on the outskirts of the village..._

"Are you certain about this?" a dark figure quietly asks, another figure next to him nodding.

"Positive. I'm sure about it. Leave it to me." the figure responds.

"I'll go report this to the others, then to the boss. We'll see how this plays out."

"Very well."

The cold night breeze drifts, seemingly innocent, yet the threat of darkness, imminent.

"The time has almost come..."

* * *

 _ **I'm having fun writing this story. I hope you guys like it so far! Anyways, the next chapter will probably be longer, but I'll upload that along with chapter 4.**_

 _ **Additionally, there were a few grammar/spelling errors in the previous chapters. I've updated them; please tell me if there are others you've noticed.**_

 _ **I bid adieu!**_


	4. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

 **New School, New Friends, and Dreams Galore!**

"Miles…."

"Ughhh…"

"Miles...wake up…"

"Ghuhghh… 5 more minutes…"

"Miles!"

Immediately, the eevee jumps up from his position, surprised by the sudden outburst. He glares at the source of the disturbance of his sleep, at lets out a yawn.

"Well good morning to you too, sleepyhead. Today's your first day of school!" Aprie chimes, handing Miles an Oran berry. "Eat up, you'll need all the energy you can get!"

Groggily, the eevee chomps down on his breakfast. He walks up to the living room, where Aprie is sorting out his inventory.

"Hmmm, this bag should be perfect for you," he raises up a small, satchel-like bag. "The sling is a bit long, so I'll have to cut some of it off though. The things you need for school should all be here!" Aprie hands the bag to the eevee, slinging it around his neck, barely reaching Miles' knees.

"Thank you Aprie! It's just right!" Miles exclaims.

"Oh also, I think you should refer to me as your 'uncle' from now, Miles. Since we're doing this and all," Aprie suggests. Miles nods in agreement, checking his bag in curiosity.

"Uhh… Hello? Mr. Aprie?" A voice from outside draws out the nuzleaf, and sees the riolu just outside the door.

"Oh, good morning Raf! What brings you here?"

"Well, I heard today's Miles' first day in school, so I thought, you know, since we live this close to another, we can walk to class together!" Raf pipes up.

"That's a great idea!" Aprie nods at the riolu. "Miles! Raf's here to walk with you to school!"

Miles reveals himself from inside, and greets the riolu with a shy smile. "Oh, h-hi, Raf."

"Mornin' Miles! Sorry about cutting off the town tour yesterday," Raf grins sheepishly. "Anywho, c'mon! We don't want to be late!"

"Oh! O-Ok." Miles steps out to the riolu. "See you later, Ap—I mean, uncle!"

"A-ah yes, take care now!" And with that, the nuzleaf waves the eevee off, and returns to do his home chores.

* * *

"So, Miles, you're Mr. Aprie's nephew right?" Raf asks, surprising the eevee with the sudden question.

"U-uh yeah, yes he is," Miles answers timidly.

"So how's he like? I don't know him much aside from being my neighbor, ya see," he asks as he chomps on an apple.

"W-well," Miles quickly thought of something, anything, to answer with. "T-to tell the truth, I haven't known him for long," he lets out a small sigh, satisfies with his excuse.

"Hmm, even his own family doesn't know much. Weird. Oh well! I'm glad to have a new friend though!"

"F-friend?"

"Well, yeah! I mean, we only met yesterday, but we can still be friends, right?"

"I...I guess so?"

"Great! So you _could_ say I'm your first friend in the village!" He exclaims, proudly.

"Yeah, I guess…?"

The two continue talking (although it was mostly Raf doing all the chatter) and happily greeted the other villagers. Raf introduced Miles to a bunch of them, although the eevee was still quite timid with the whole thing.

From what he could gather, there was Mrs. Kanga, the café owner, Mrs. Rosa the roselia with her daughter, Pin the budew. There was also Mr. K, the Kecleon who ran the local shop, Mr. Cuff the Klefki, who served as a sort of locksmith, there was Mr. Gus, the creepy-looking mummy dude whose shop was full of gold, Ms. Malia, the meowth who ran the theatre, and Mr. Luca, the Hawlucha with a sort of training class.

All of them seemed pleasantly surprised to hear Miles as Aprie's nephew, and warmly welcomed him to town with smiles. That made the eevee feel a little bit more comfortable than yesterday, seeing how the townsfolk were generally kind.

"And here we are, the village school!" Raf exclaimed. Miles looked over to see an open area with tables, chairs, and a board, with some younger looking Pokémon already within the premises.

"Hey everyone!" Raf loudly greets. The school Pokemon looked over and answered Raf back with a 'good morning'.

"Hey Raf, who's that with you?" A pink deer-like Pokemon asks the riolu.

"Oh yeah! Everyone, meet Miles! He just moved in yesterday. He's also Mr. Aprie's nephew!" Raf introduced.

"H-Hi…"

"Oh my, an eevee!" the same pink Pokémon rushed to Miles, with another weird slime Pokémon following suit. "Nice to meet you, Miles! I'm Flora, a deerling! And over here's Sammy!" Flora says, nudging at the smaller Pokémon next to her.

"Nice to meet you, Miles! As Flora said, I'm Sammy, a Goomy!"

"It's...nice to meet you two too," Miles answers with a small smile.

"Hey Prim! Aren't you gonna say hi?" Raf directs the question to a grey cat-like Pokémon sitting in one of a chairs, eyes fixated on a book.

"Oh," she stares at Miles, getting up from her chair, approaching. "Hi. Miles, was it? I'm Prim."

"H-Hi…" with that, Prim walks back to her chair, continuing with the book she was reading.

Miles seemed a bit confused by the stoic actions of Prim.

"Ah, she's always like that, don't worry!" Flora assures. "I mean, most espurrs are anyway."

"W-well, okay…" Miles manages to breathe out, still trying to adjust himself with his new classmates.

"Hm? What's this?" A voice, snickering, pipes in. "Looks like we have new company!"

"...Not those two again," the riolu sighs out. Confused, the eevee turns to the owner of the voice — a small, panda-like Pokémon with a twig on its mouth, accompanied by a pink head wearing a helmet.

The two approach, and Miles noticed Sammy hide behind Flora.

"Hey Raf, who are they?" the eevee whispers to the riolu.

"Cam the pancham and Bugsy the shelmet," he whispers back. "They're kind of...bullies."

Just when Miles was about to say something else, the pancham steps in front of him, towering with a snicker.

"A new kid, huh? This should be fun," Cam snickers again.

"Hey Sammy, being a crybaby again?" Miles looks over to see Bugsy teasing the goomy, who was rather quivering.

"That's enough, Bugsy," Flora steps in, and the shelmet hops away, laughing.

"Hey Raf, heard ya got your pops mad again," the pancham smirks. "What'd you do this time, tripped over a bucket?"

"As if! The only bucket tripping over here's from you, Cam!"

"Oh yeah? Prove it, mask-face!"

"Bring it, twig-suckler!"

The glares the two Pokémon were giving each other was enough to make Miles back away in caution. The deerling sighs.

"Get used to it Miles, this happens every day," she says.

"E...eh…"

 _Boom boom boom!_

The students were so distracted that they didn't notice the appearance of a bird Pokémon, curiously holding what seems to be a leek.

"That's enough students! Go back to your seats!"

"Yes, Ms. Finch…" One by one, the class started to head back to their respective seats. Miles, not knowing where to go, panickly looked around.

"Oh Ms. Finch! I forgot to tell you!" Right then entered a tall brown-furred Pokémon, who seemed like it was wearing some kind of safety vest.

"Yes, what is it, Vice Principal?"

"You have a new student today. Aprie came in yesterday to enroll his nephew," the vice principal says.

"Is that so? Well...where are they?"

"Oh, Ms. Finch! You mean Miles?" Flora pipes up.

"Miles…? Oh!" She notices the panicking eevee. "Why don't you properly introduce yourself to the class?"

Letting out a squeak, the eevee timidly makes his way to the front. He eyes Raf, who mouths a 'go for it!'

"U-Um… Hello. My name's Miles… I'm, uh… Mr. Aprie's nephew," he breathes out.

"Aprie's nephew huh? How Farfetch'd! Ha, ha, ha!"

The class groans.

"Well, Miles, welcome to the school! I'm your teacher, Ms. Finch, and this Watchog here is the Vice Principal, Mr. Alex."

"H...Hello," Miles says, earning a nod from the watchog and the farfetch'd.

"Well then, why don't you go sit next to Raf?" she points to an empty chair. Raf, upon hearing his name, pipes up and pats on the table next to him.

"Over here Miles!"

"C-Coming!"

The rest of the school day was uneventful; Ms. Finch taught all the lessons, but Miles couldn't grasp everything as easily as everyone else did, which prompted him to quietly ask questions from Raf, who was more than happy to answer.

* * *

 _Riiiiiiing_

"Well, that's the bell! Class is over for today. Take care in going home!" Ms Finch finishes, the students excitedly packing their things to leave.

"Hey, hey Miles!" Raf directs to the eevee.

"Hmm?"

"Where are you headed after school?"

"N-nowhere, really… I was planning to go home immediately after…"

"Well then, let's go exploring together!"

"Exploring…?"

"Yeah! Exploring! You see, when I grow up, I wanna be part of the Expedition Society!"

"Wh-what's that…?" Miles asks, confused.

"You don't know?! Well! The Expedition Society is only the coolest, most awesome, best-est explorer team there is!"

"Heh, there he goes again, with his Expedition Society nonsense," Cam interrupts.

"Whatever, Cam," Raf huffs.

"Gotta warn ya though Miles, once he starts talking about his Expedition Society thing, there's no stopping his blabbermouth! Get 'yer earmuffs ready," he snickers and strolls off, Bugsy following suit.

"Ugh… That pancham, honestly. Hmmph. So whaddaya say, Miles? Let's go!"

"W-Well, I guess I can…"

"Perfect! Bye everyone! We'll see you tomorrow!" And with that, he zooms past the others, with a less-than-warned eevee in tow.

* * *

"So Miles, I forgot to ask a while ago… Why did you move to the village?"

"E-er… change of scenery?"

"Oh? So where did you live?"

"A...ah — er…"

"Well, it doesn't matter! You moved here now right? That's what counts!" Raf exclaims, again proud of himself. The eevee sighs in relief.

"So...uh...Raf, what was that about exploring a while ago?"

"Ah! Yes! Exploring is when you go to all kinds of places around the world! Most explorers do it for the treasures that are said to be hidden across the globe, but I just want to do for the experience!"

"...Ohhh."

"And that's why it's my dream to become a member of the Expedition Society! They're an explorer society that traverses the whole region, and even helps distraught Pokemon along the way!" He explains, with sparkles on his eyes. "They're so cool!"

The eevee smiles at the excitement of his new friend. "That does...sound cool."

"Isn't it?! At least someone else aside from me thinks so too!" He cheers. "Say, Miles?"

"Yeah?"

"Follow me, quick!" The riolu runs off, Miles tilting his head in confusion, but nevertheless runs after Raf.

"W-Wait up, Raf!"

* * *

"R-Raf, where are we going?" Miles puffs out his breath, tired from all the running.

"You'll see! Come on, come on!" He waves to the eevee, who groans in response.

"Riiiighhht there!" The riolu exclaims, pointing to a humongous tree. "We're here!"

Slowly, the eevee walks up the hill where the tree stands, still tired from his chase with Raf a while back.

"Look!" Raf says, pointing at the view.

Miles stares at the open scenery before him — right below was Serene Village, then the forest, and then the vast sea that seemed to twinkle as the sun started to shift the sky into a vibrant orange.

"W...wow…" Miles, mesmerized, continues to stare at the view.

"It's wonderful, isn't it? I go here a lot of the time, especially when pops blasts my ears off. Kinda like my happy place."

"And...you're sharing it with me?"

"Well, yeah! Why not? Y'know, for some reason, Miles, I think I can trust you!" He smiles at the eevee.

The eevee continues to look on at the horizon, watching the small residents of the village walk around.

"Whenever I visit this place, I think," Raf inhales a breath of fresh air, pausing. "Wouldn't it be nice to know what's beyond here? The village I mean. The world is huuuuge! I don't want to stay in a village forever, y'know?"

Miles nods in response, now watching as the sun slowly descend from the sky, the light of the moon now present.

"Ahhh, darn. It's too cloudy today. There aren't any stars," he groans. Miles looks up, sure enough, the clouds covered what would have been a starshow.

"Should we go back? Mr. Aprie might get worried if you come home way late!"

"Yeah… Let's."

Miles exhales. He had a feeling him and Raf would have a lot of fun with his stay.

* * *

 _ **Okay, this was quite a long chapter. I intended for Raf's dream sharing to be for chapter 4, but I got too carried away, haha. Oh well.**_


	5. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

 **The Dashing Wanderer**

Hours turned into days. Days turned into weeks, then months.

During that span of time, Miles slowly, but surely, adapted well into the village. It was almost like he's been living there all his life - the adults were kind and caring (although Mr. K would often rampage when his inventory seemingly depletes), and furthermore, Miles got to know the students a lot more, and quickly adjusted his learning style to ease the lessons that Ms. Finch would bore them out with; Aprie explained to him once that eevee are naturally very adaptive to their environment, so maybe that was it.

But most of all, Miles found a great friend in Raf; every day before school, the riolu would pick up his friend from his home, and they'd spend all day together, even after class. This irritated Raf's pops somedays though, as their mini adventures would often result in riolu forgetting about his chores. Nevertheless, the carracosta didn't mind when the eevee came over to his abode (he made it as an excuse for Raf to do more chores), and the townsfolk became used to seeing the two friend dashinng around town, often causing trouble.

Like that one time they smashed into Mrs. Kanga, who was lifting plates back to the counter - imagine the mess of shattered glass! The pair did apologize and clean up, but Mon and Aprie did have to pay for the damages, much to their guardian's dismay.

Most nights, however, the two would sneak out of their homes, unbeknownst to their guradians, and the pair would run off to the hill with the big tree, which they both dubbed 'Big Tree Hill'. There, the two would talk about anything and everything; from explorers to expeditions, from mystery dungeons to guesses as to why Cam was such a big jerk. Miles grew more and more interested in sharing Raf's dream of becoming an Expedition Society member, which the riolu became estatic about.

"Hey, Miles?" Tonight was one of those nights when the pair lazily laid underneath the big tree, counting the stars in the sky - Raf would always stop at 100 before giving up, however.

"Yeah, Raf?" The eevee, still looking up, replies, a small yawn escaping.

"Promise me..."

"Promise what...?"

"That we'll both become Expedition members!" The riolu punches up, a grin on his face.

"I've already promised you that like 8 times, Raf," the eevee chuckles. "I'll promise again though. For the 9th time."

"Heh...I'm glad. I'm glad we became friends too, Miles."

"Hm? Why are you so emotional all of a sudden?" Miles questions.

"I dunno, just felt like it." The riolu shrugged. "I am happy though!"

"Me too Raf, me too..."

* * *

 _Boom boom boom boom_

"Alright, settle down class!" the farfetch'd's raised her leek up high. The students' attention focus on her. "The Principal wants to talk about something, or so she said a while ago."

"Principal Simeon?"

"Oooh, I wonder what's on today!" Murmurs and chatters of the students erupt, excited. After all, the principal only ever came when there was something _really important_ to discuss.

"Maybe someone's in trouble!"

"Heh, afraid you're gonna get kicked out for being a scaredy-cat, Sammy?" Cam snickers. The goomy sighs and Flora huffs in annoyance.

"Cam, I'm gonna knock you in the head with a hoof if you do that again!" The deerling sternly scolds.

"H-Hey! That's not cool! F-Fine, whatever."

"I did overhear the Principal and Nurse Dina talk a while ago before class though," Prim suddenly speaks up from her book, gaining the attention of the entire class.

"Ooh, ooh, about what?" Bugsy excitedly asks. The espurr merely looks at him with half-lidded eyes.

"Something about a visitor, I dunno," Prim shrugs, and goes back to reading. "There's really no sense in kicking out any of you, I just wanted to clear that up," she finishes, her eyes still on the book.

"A visitor! Wow!" Sammy excitedly exclaims. "I wonder what they're like?"

"Hmph, probably a nasty ol' Gengar to haunt you at night," Cam teases. "BOO!" The Goomy squeaks in fright, hiding under the table.

"Cam!" With a swift leg, Flora smacks the pancham's head.

"Ow ow ow ow ow! Sorry!" He says, rubbing his forehead in pain.

The rest of the class laughs, Cam hiding his face in embarrassment.

"Ha ha, what do you think, Miles?" Flora asks. The eevee, upon hearing his name, shrugs.

"No clue..."

"Oh! I know!" Raf pipes up. "Maybe it's gonna be an explorer!" he excitedly says.

"We already know what you were thinking, Raf," Prim silently murmurs from her book, making the eevee beside Raf giggle.

"But... That would be cool though..." Sammy pops up from under the table.

"Mmm, I guess so too!" Flora adds.

The class continues on guessing who this guest might be-or what they might be.

"Okay class, listen up! The principal's coming!" Ms. Finch exclaims, prompting the students to silence. The simipour principal, Ms. Simeon, walks up the platform.

"Good morning students! As Ms Finch here said, I have a special surprise for you today!"

 _"Ooooohhhh!"_

"As you all know, an important thing we teach in this school is the value of experience! However, Serene Village is quite a small town, so I've invited someone with vast knowledge of the land to come here today!"

 _"Aaaaahhhh!"_

"Everyone, please give a warm welcome to Mr. Chief!"

As if by cue, a large cloud of dust rushes past the students; however, the multiple chanting of "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" seemed to give off a less than respectable vibe.

When the dust cleared, a yellow bipedal sheep crashed on the table right next to the principal, the orb on its head and tail glowing in excitement, as well as the huge smile present on his face, though its eyes clearly dizzy.

"Mr. Chief! That was...quite an entrance!" Ms. Simeon says, surprise imminent on her face.

"Heeeeello everyone!" the Pokemon raises one of its flabby arms, greeting the students. "I'm Chief the ampharos, the _dashing_ wanderer of Lively Town's Expedition Society!"

By those two words, the whole class' ears shoot up, especially Raf's. The riolu's eyes brimmed with excitement, as he holds back a scream of happiness.

"Miles! Miles Miles Miles!" He shakes the small body of his friend, the latter starting to become dizzy. "He's from...the Expedition Society! Did you hear?!"

"Yes I heard, Raf! Now I'm getting diii-ii-ii-zzyyy," the eevee muffles an answer.

"Woops, sorry bud! I got carried away there," Raf grins sheepishly.

"Now, if you have any questions about the society and what we do, please feel free to ask!" The ampharos exclaims.

"Oh! Me! Me! Me!" The whole class rioted, clearly excited.

* * *

"Man, what a day!" Raf stretches out, the bell signifying the end of class. Chief wandered off into town after his guest appearance, and ever since then, the riolu couldn't take his mind off the entire thing.

"I know right! Who knew someone from the Expedition Society was gonna come today?" Miles beams.

"You two seem pretty pumped," Sammy states. The pair nod.

"Well Raf, what did you think?" Flora asks. The riolu hardly contained his happiness.

"What did I think? I thought that was amazing! Now I wanna become an expedition member even more!"

"Ha, dream on, mask-face!" Cam interrupts, Bugsy snickering beside him. "You, an expedition member? Pfffft, no way!"

"Besides, what would you do, sweep the basement?" The shelmet adds. The two Pokemon snicker, earning a glare from the riolu.

"Don't listen to them, Raf," Miles chimes in. "You'll be a great member one day!"

"Hey, don't forget about you!" Raf punches the eevee playfully.

"The only 'great' you'll be in the society is a 'great' waste of time! Both of you!" Cam and Bugsy laugh hysterically.

"Oh yeah?! Hmmph, c'mon Miles! Let's go find Mr. Chief and ask him to become members!"

"Wait...right now?!"

"Yes, right now!" And with that, the riolu dashes off, Miles in tow.

* * *

 _Smack!_

"Ow! What was that for?!" The pancham rubs his head in pain once again, Flora huffing.

"You were being extra mean today, Cam! You deserved that."

"Ow ow ow ow ow ow..."

* * *

 _The ocean is vast, harboring hundreds of Pokemon species known in existence. The Northern Seas, for instance, housed the empire of a great whale._

"W-What's this...?" the glowing antennae of a blue Pokemon shone even brighter, trying to affirm what it was seeing with its very eyes.

"No way..." His companion, in shock, covers his mouth with his front flippers-his eyes widening in shock and horror.

In front of the two Pokemon was something enormous-the body of a blue giant, seemingly frozen in place, despite the current flowing. However, the once blue body was now that of a dull gray rock, Its once beady eyes staring blankly into the vast depths.

"The big boss...he's turned into stone..."

* * *

 _ **Hm, not much to say about this chapter, so I'll be leaving here.**_

 _ **Oh, a little trivia. The ampharos' name is Chief not because he's the actual chief of the society, but because that was the nickname of my ampharos in-game, haha.**_

 _ **Oh well, I hope you guys enjoyed!**_


	6. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

 **The Giant, the Brothers, and the Dungeon**

Raf paused for a while, catching his breath. Miles on the other hand, was the worse of the two, his paws blistering in heat from being dragged off.

"Sorry... _huff..._ about... _huff..._ that," the Riolu says in between pants. The Eevee looks up at Raf and headbutts his arm.

"Warn me when you do that next time!" he breathed out.

Moments later, the two continue to walk down the path to town, thinking of places the Ampharos may have gone to.

"Maybe the cafe?" Miles suggests.

"Or maybe the locksmith? He might have some treasure, y'know," Raf adds.

From the corner of their eye, they spot an object down the road, Cautiously, the Riolu picks it up and shows it to Miles, curiosity immersing the pair.

"What do you think it is?" Miles asks. Raf shrugs in response.

"Dunno. Looks like some kind of ball," he says, tossing it up, catching it as it drops.

"Careful! You might break it," Miles warns.

"Don't worry! It's in good hands -" as he finishes, the ball-like object rolls off Raf's paws and to the road.

"Raf! The thing!"

"Ah! Quick, after it!"

The two give chase, ending up on the town; ducking beneath walking villagers to maintain contact with the runaway ball.

"Got it!" The Riolu holds it up. Miles sighs in relief, smacking Raf's arm weakly.

"I told you to be careful!"

"I wonder what it is, though..." Raf ponders for a moment. "I know! Let's ask Mr. K!"

"That's a great idea! He knows a lot about items!" The Eevee agrees as the pair head for the Kecleon's shop right near the beach.

"Mr. K! Mr.K!" the duo says in unison

"What is it? You two? What do you want?! Sneaking some apples again, are we?!"

"No, no!" Raf crosses his arms. "We found this thing along the road. We wondered if you knew anything about it?" he asks as he raises the ball in question.

Gingerly, the Kecleon picks it up, and exams the details of the object.

"Ah... What you have here is a connection orb!" He exclaims.

"A connection orb? What's that?" Miles asks, the Riolu also in confusion. Mr. K clears his throat.

"Connection orbs are commonly used by explorers to connect back to Pokemon they've helped or interacted with before," he starts. "It's extremely useful, even in merchant exchange. This orb connects you with anyone anywhere in the world, so long as you've had connection with them directly or indirectly." He finishes.

The duo didn't quite get all that, giving the Kecleon a questioning look.

"Uhhh...How do I put this...Connection orbs help you connect to Pokemon from others you've met before, basically."

"Ohhh... Wait, didn't you say explorers use them?" Raf clarifies.

"Yes."

"Then that means... Miles! This must be Mr. Chief's connection orb!"

"You might be right," Miles responds. "Let's return it to him, he might've not known he lost it in the first place!"

Raf nods in agreement. The pair say their thanks to Mr. K, and proceed to run off for any signs of the Ampharos.

"He's not in the cafe..." Miles says.

"He's not in any of the shops, either..." Raf adds.

"Good afternoon to ze two of you, Raf, Miles!" the pair look over to see a Hippopotas approaching.

"Oh, hi Ms. Gran! Say, you haven't seen an Ampharos around here, have you?" Raf asks.

"An Ampharos? No, not a thing," she replies.

"Ah, too bad. Thank you though, Ms. Gran!" Miles says, the Hippopotas nodding and walking away.

"Hm? Raf? Miles? What're you two up to?" The pair look up to see Mon, walking with Mr. Jaw, the Raticate.

"Oh, hi pops! Hey Mr. Jaw!" The Riolu and the Eevee greet.

"You two look like you're looking for something?" the Raticate asks. Raf nods.

"Someone, actually. Have you seen an Ampharos around here?"

"Ampharos? Let's see..." Mon ponders for a moment.

"Oh, yeah, didn't we see an Ampharos running around a while ago, Mon?" The Raticate glances, Mon hit with a realization.

"That one? He seemed in a hurry... A big hurry... Then ran off to the direction of Poliwrath River," Mon states.

"Aye, thanks pops!" The two then run off to the said area, unfazed by the name.

"H-Hey! Stop right there!"

"Eek! Y-yeah pops?" As the Riolu responds, the Carracosta grabs the pair by the cuff, dragging them to town.

"You are NOT to go there!" He bellows. "It's too dangerous for kids like you!"

"E-eh?!" Raf flails to no avail, Mon continuing on dragging them toward the cafe.

"Kids these days... Always so rash," he murmurs to himself.

* * *

"Again, under no circumstances are you to go to that river!" Mon repeats. Raf groans in response.

"Aw... C'mon pops."

"Don't 'come on pops' me! Now you two stay here! I don't want to hear the both of you getting pummeled by those three whackos! And Miles! What would Aprie say?!" Upon hearing the name, the Eevee shepishly grins. Mon huffs, storming out of the cafe.

"Ah...well, what now Miles?" Raf questions.

"I dunno... I guess your pops is right though..."

"Hmmm..."

"Hey you two!" Raf and Miles turn their heads to the owner's voice.

"Eep!" Miles squeaks in surprise when an extremely large, green lizard-like Pokemon approaches them. He hides behind Raf in fright.

Raf tries to put on a brave face, although quivering inside.

"No, no, don't worry!" The Pokemon then smiles at the two. Raf questioningly gazes at the Pokemon, marveling.

"C-Can we help you?" Raf manages to stutter out.

"Did I hear right? That you were going to Poliwrath River without _any_ preparation?!"

The Riolu nods in response, gulping.

"Well then! Young explorers like you two should really think before entering a dungeon! By the way, I'm Hugo, the largest, most powerful Tyranitar of team ASandstorm!"

"T-Team Sandstorm?! The explorer team Sandstorn?!"

"Ha, ha! You know your explorer teams, young one! Yes, that team! I was just passing by for a quick drink, but I guess fate had other plans for me!"

Miles slowly comes out of hiding, although still cautious.

"U-Um! Hi, Mr. Hugo, sir! M-My nmae's Raf, and this one's my friend, Miles!" he stammers out, still in awe.

"Well, Raf and Miles! A peculiar duo! So tell me, why do want to go to the river?"

"W-Well, someone dropped an item of theirs, a-and from what we've learned, he went on his way to the river, so we thought we'd return it to him," Raf explains. The Tyranitar grins.

"A return mission! Just like a true explorer would do!" he commends. The Eevee excitedly jumps up, the Riolu finally calming down.

"Well, if you really want to head to that area, well, here... A gift for you two!" The Tyranitar hands the Riolu two bracelet-like accessories.

"What... What are these, Mr Hugo, sir?"

"Those are called looplets! The one I'm giving you two is an Attack looplet and a Defend looplet; one for each of you! Looplets are extremely helpful in dungeons. You insert Emeras in them, to help you traverse!"

"E-Emeras?" Miles asks.

"Emeras are gems found in dungeons. Each emera has a different use, and inserting them on the looplet gives you a boost in power!"

"Wow, really?!" Raf excitedly exclaims. Hugo nods, and watches as the Riolu slips the looplet on his arm.

Seeing Miles struggle to put his on, Raf takes the defend looplet and attaches it to the Eevee's bag, like a tag, since his paws were too stubby to hold one.

"Thanks Raf! Great thinking!" Miles smiles, headbutting the Riolu in response.

"You can always count on me, Miles!" he exclaims proudly.

From behind, Hugo smiles as he watches the two go back and forth.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Goodluck on your mission! And don't worry, I'll handle your pops when he gets back. If you're worried about the Poliwrath, just make sure not to venture too deep into the dungeon." the Tyranitar assures.

"Wow, really? Thank you Mr. Hugo, sir!" The Riolu waves his hand farewell and rudhes out the cafe. "C'mon Miles!"

"W-Wait up! U-Um, thank you, Mr. Hugo, sir," the Eevee bows and speeds off to his friend.

The Tyranitar sighs. _"Ahhh... Being young and having fun..."_

* * *

"Well, here we are, Miles! Our very first dungeon together!" The Riolu squeals in excitement. The Eevee nods in response.

"C'mon Raf! Let's go find Mr. Chief!"

"Yeah!"

At first, the dungeon wasn't too difficult; Raf and Miles cleared the first few floors without running into any wild Pokemon—even picking up some emeras and berries along the way. The two excitedly, yet carefully, traverse the next floor, unknowing of the piercing eyes staring at them.

Out of the blue, a small spider-like Pokemon jumps at them, immediately firing volts of electricity.

"Miles, watch out!" The Riolu manages to push the Eevee out of the way in time.

"It's a Joltik! Careful, their electric attacks are very fast!"

"W-What should we do?" The Eevee asks, unwary.

"We have no choice but to attack, Miles! C'mon!" The Riolu jumps up, raising his arms, air-like projections gathering.

"Vacuum Wave!" Raf throws the mass to the Joltik, hitting it square in the face.

"Raf... T-That was so cool!" Miles exclaims. The Riolu blushes and scratchs his head in embarassment.

"I-Is that so? My pops taught me how to fight some time back, just in case."

The Joltik, however, shakes off the attack, being more agitated now. It fires a thread of string, headed right for the pair.

"Miles, jump to the left and attack!"

Miles jumps, but then freezes in position. "Uhh... I don't know how to attack, Raf!" He says to the Riolu.

"You don't?!" Raf, surprised, avoiding another string shot. "Just...try something, anything!" Raf blasts another Vaccuum Wave, but the Joltik jumps, avoiding it.

"Miles! Now!"

 _"What to do... What to do..."_ The Eevee ponders quickly. He looks up and sees the Joltik jump above him. _"I...I gotta try...!"_

"Here goes nothing!" Miles bursts as he jumps straight to the Joltik, crashing into the small spider, sending it off flying.

"Miles, you did it!"

"I...I did?"

"Yes you did! That was one strong Tackle you did there!"

"I...I did it...I did it! Raf, I did it!" Miles jumps excitedly.

"Well, let's move on then!"

"Alright!"

With a newfound strength, Raf and Miles manage to hold off the wild Pokemon in the area. Miles had a blast Tackling any attackers, and the Riolu would blast them with Vacuum Wave.

"I can hear the river! We're almost there, Miles!" The Riolu says to the Eevee, who was munching down an apple.

"Dungeons sure are tiring," Miles lets out a small burp, earning a chuckle from Raf.

"I read that you should never explore on an empty stomach," Raf explains. "And to always replenish any lost energy!"

"Well, that makes sense," Miles says, finishing off the rest of her apple.

"Let's get going then!" Raf's statement was then halted by the appearance of another wild Pokemon-this time bigger than Raf, with a long trunk-like nose .

"A-Ah! Miles, be careful! That's a Drowzee... Its psychic attacks are really strong, especially against fighting types like me!" Raf whispers down. Miles nods in understanding, a prepares to charge for a tackle.

Before he could, however, Raf was thrown to a nearby rock. Groaning, he gets up, only to be held back by a mysterious blue energy.

"M-Miles... It's using confusion!" The Riolu manages to speak out. The Eevee, wary, charges head-on at the Drowzee, making it release its grip from Raf.

"Thanks, bud!" Raf raises an arm in thanks.

The Drowzee manages to stand however, its sights now on Miles. With the wave of a hand, Miles is lifted off the ground. The Eevee squeaks in surprise, unable to move.

"Miles!" Raf throws a Vacuum Wave at the attacker, who merely brushes off the move.

"Ah! My fighting type attacks aren't as effective against psychic types!" He exclaims in realization.

Miles hurriedly looks around, and spots a small, yellow object on the ground near him.

"Ah! Perfect!" The Riolu picks up the object, and hurls it at the Drowzee, causing an explosion; effectively knocking the it out. Miles lands on the ground safely.

"That was scary! Thanks Raf!" The Eevee walks up to his partner. "What was that thing you used?"

"Oh! That was a Blast Seed! I read about those in a _Beginner's Guide to Dungeons_ book. I'm so glad I remembered that!"

"That was so cool! Hey Raf, you should teach me about all there is to know about dungeons!"

"After we find Mr. Chief, I'll tell you everything I know!"

"Let's go find him then!" The two set off to the path, the river in earshot.

From behind a rock however, a certain Pokemon watches the two friends as they walk.

"Intruders... I better warn the bosses!" It scurries off as fast as its two feet can carry it.

* * *

At the cafe, the Tyranitar takes another sip of his Moomoo Milk. Worry dawns upon him on the two children he talked with a while ago, but tells himself that they _should_ be alright.

The cafe door opens, and in walks Mon, clearly tired from doing his afternoon errands. He looks around the cafe, no sign of the Riolu or the Eevee.

"Mrs. Kanga, have you seen where Raf and Miles went off too?" Mon asks the Kangaskhan at the counter.

"Hmm, I did see the two head out a few hours back. They looked really excited, for some reason," she recalls.

"Urk...! Don't tell me they... That hard-headed boy never listens!" the Carracosta starts storming off, but his path was then blocked by a giant Pokemon.

"Excuse me sir, can I have a word with you?"

* * *

"Look Raf! It's the river!" The Eevee exclaims, excitement in his eyes. The Riolu nods and looks around for any sign of the Ampharos.

"Hmmm... I don't see Mr. Chief anywhere though..." He wonders aloud.

 _ **"You two..."**_

"R-Raf...? W-Where did that voice come from...?" The Eevee steps back.

 _ **"How dare you intrude our river!"**_

"I-I don't know...but they don't seem very happy..." Raf gulps, looking around.

 _ **"We'll show you what happens to pesky intruders!"**_

Suddenly, three Pokemon jump out from different sides of the river. Their round blue body contrasting their tough arms and hands, a peculiar swirl on their belly.

"I-It's...It's the Poliwrath brothers!" Raf exclaims, causing the Miles to press on the Riolu in fright.

"You kids have no place in this river!" One says.

"You should've listened to you parents when you had the chance!" Another continues.

"No prepare for our wrath! Our _Poli-Wrath!_ " he snickers. The left brother smacks him on the head, and the other groans in frustration.

"Now come! Our trusty sidekick! Make these two quiver in your presence!"

On cue, another figure appears before them-this time, it looked like a miniature version of the three brothers, but without any hands, and a feather-like tail.

"A...A Poliwag? How is that scary..." Raf whispers to Miles, the Eevee shrugging.

The Poliwag, upon hearing, glares at the two, and unleashes a strong projection of water.

"Ah!" The Riolu, on instinct, grabs Miles and jumps away, barely avoiding the attack.

"We're out of options! Miles, let's attack!" The Eevee nods in response and begins to charge at the Poliwag, who dodges the attack and smacks Miles with its tail.

"Ow!" Again, the Eevee gets hit with the tail. "Raf! A little help here?"

"On it! Vacuum Wave!" The Riolu hurls the wave to the Poliwag, sending it back, away from Miles.

"Thanks Raf!"

"Here it comes!" Raf warns as the Poliwag lets out another burst of water, hitting both of them, crashing the two to a wall.

"Eghh... That hurt..." Miles groans.

"C'mon, Miles! We have to do this!" Looking up, the Eevee senses a burning flame in the Riolu's eyes. He nods in response. Raf then runs to the Poliwag, jumping when it gets to attacking range.

"Get a load of this! Force Palm!" Raf hits the Poliwag with his palm, a huge burst of energy suddenly exploding. The Poliwag flies back, defeated.

"They defeated Poliwag!" one of the brothers exclaimed.

"Now it's _really_ getting personal!" The other slams his fist to his palm.

"Get 'em!"

The three run to the pair, who both gain their senses despite being afraid of the brothers. Raf swerves to his side, just in time as the Poliwrath swings his arm at him. The Riolu, counters with another Force Palm, blowing his attacker back.

"Why you little...!"

Meanwhile, Miles repeatedly dodges punches from two of the brothers, swerving left, right, sliding down, jumping up, to avoid the angry fists of the two; one of the punches lands, smashing the Eevee to the ground. Groaning, Miles gets up, only to be hit again by the other brother. Miles stands back up again, this time, sliding beneath one of them as the Poliwrath punched. He Tackles the back of the Poliwrath, making him crash with his brother. The two stand and glare at the Eevee, who gulped in caution.

"That's it! I've had enough! Water Gun!" one of the Poliwrath exclaim, blasting a torrent of water toward Miles, the latter closing his eyes in fright.

"Miles!"

"Ahhh!" "...?!" When he opens his eyes, he sees a dozen duplicates of him surrounding the two brothers.

"Miles! You used Double Team! That's epic!" Raf exclaims as he dodges another punch from his attacker. The Eevee, gaining a confidence boost, charges at the two brothers, his duplicates following suit.

 _Bam!_

Miles sent one of the two flying towards his brother; at that same moment, Raf blows back the other Poliwrath with a Vacuum Wave—the three crashing with each other, defeated.

"Did... Did we...?"

"We... We did... We did!" Raf exclaims punching his paw up in the air. The Eevee flops down and retrieves and Oran Berry from his bag, and throws another to Raf.

"That was terrifyingly intense! I can't believe we beat the brothers!"

"I can't believe either!"

Celebrating, the two didn't notice one of the Poliwrath slowly get up, eyes piercing at the pair.

"You... Two..." he growls. The duo look and see the Poliwrath charging, the Eevee and Riolu frozen in panic.

"Hydro... Hydo Pu -" Just then, an unknown figure slams at the Poliwrath, hurling him to a wall.

"Coming through coming through coming through! ...Oh! Where did that Poliwrath go?" Chief looks around, seemingly oblivious to the other two fainted brothers behind him.

"Mr. Chief!"

"Hm...? Ah! The school children! How lovely!" The Ampharos approaches the pair. "Why are you two out here? Shouldn't you be at home?"

"We were looking for you, Mr. Chief!" Raf says, relieved.

"Hmm? Why's that?"

"We saw this in town, and thought it might belong to you!" Miles rolls the Connection Orb to the Ampharos, who picks it up happily.

"My Connection Orb! So THAT'S where it went!" Chief exclaims. "Did you guys venture out here just to return this to me?"

"Well... Yeah. But that was only part of it," Raf inhales.

"Mr. Chief, we'd like to be members of the Expedition Society!"

* * *

 _ **SO, did anyone figure out the title reference?**_

 _ **No? Really? You haven't heard of Narnia before? Y'know... The Lion, the Witch, the Wardrobe?**_

 _ **Ok I'll see myself out now. That was horrible LMAO.**_


	7. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

 **A Promise is a Promise**

* * *

"You want to be members of the Expedition Society?" Chief reiterates. Raf and Miles look at each other, then back to the Ampharos, both giving a firm nod.

"Well whaddya know! It seems you two want to become explorers!" Raf and Miles flashed a grin in agreement to the Ampharos' statement, whose smile radiated excitement.

"Well, before anything else," Miles interjects. "Shouldn't we head back first? Mr. Mon and uncle might be worried sick!"

"I guess you're right…" Raf shrugs admittingly.

"Oh! I have the thing just for that!" The Ampharos exclaims, digging out an orb-like object, although clearly not resembling the connection orb from a while ago.

"Mr. Chief, is that a —"

"An escape orb, correct!" Chief cuts in before Raf could finish, holding out the orb so the pair can reach. "Now, let's get back to the village, shall we?"

Touching the orb, the Riolu beckons the Eevee to do the same, which he does. When he does, a brilliant flash of light envelops the group, seemingly coming from the orb. When the light dissipated, Raf, Miles, and Chief were gone, leaving the three Poliwrath brothers and the Poliwag in their knocked out state.

* * *

When Miles opened his eyes, he found himself standing right outside Mrs. Kanga's cafe. He looks over to see Raf excitedly pumping his fists up, and Chief clapping his arms.

"We're...back here?" The Eevee questions.

"Yup! What Mr. Chief used back there was an escape orb! It's supposed to transport the holders out of a dungeon, and it did! That was so cool!" Raf explains, earning a nod from chief.

"You know your items, young Riolu! Oh, come to think of it, I haven't gotten your names!"

"My name's Raf!" The Riolu grins, proudly.

"And I'm Miles!" Miles continues, also a grin on his face.

"Well then, Raf and Miles! I'd say your expedition today was a success!" Chief pumps up, to the excitement of the pair.

"Raf! There you are!"

"P-Pops?!"

"Do you have _ANY_ idea how worried I was, young man?!" Mon scolds. "And Miles! Your poor uncle went running around all over town looking for you when you weren't home by dinner!" He adds.

"Woops…."

"Honestly you two! Don't tell me you went to Poliwrath River?!"

"W-Well, yeahhhhh…?" Raf scratches his head sheepishly.

"I knew it… What if you got pummeled by those three lunatic brothers?!"

"Well… We kinda did…" Miles whispers, although audible enough for the Carracosta to hear.

"What?!"

"But we kicked their asses though!" Raf butts in, trying to assure Mon.

Chief watches from behind as the adults bickers with the two children. Despite his tone, the Ampharos could see that the Carracosta truly cares for the two; the aforementioned duo clearly unfazed despite being told off.

"Honestly…" Mon sighs, frustrated. "I that buff Tyranitar didn't give you help, who would've known what happened?!"

"Oooh! You met Mr. Hugo?" Raf pipes up.

"Yes, yes I did. And he's just as hard headed as the two of you. Kept on saying nothing bad's gonna happen when _clearly_ anything could have!"

"Is he still in there?" Raf asks, seemingly ignoring the Carracosta's statement.

"No, no he's not. He left a while ago, saying he had business to attend to. We had quite the chatter, though," he rubs his head, giving up on the whole debacle. "He also told me to send you two his best wishes."

"That's so cool!" Miles nods in agreement. "Well Miles, today was really something, huh?"

"Sure was! Although I gotta get home and apologize to uncle, though."

"Yeah, you go ahead and do that," Mon agrees. "While this boy over here gets double the chores this week."

"Ughhhhh…"

"Mr. Chief?" Miles looks back at the Ampharos, who was listening to the whole thing.

"I'll still be here tomorrow, don't worry!" He assures. "You two should head home for now. I'll meet you at the plaza tomorrow for my proper thanks!"

Mon looks at the Ampharos and raises an eye at him, but immediately shrugs it off. Grabbing the Riolu by the ear, he drags him off, the Eevee following suit after they both bid off to Chief.

The Ampharos continues to look at the two Pokemon who requested on being society members; with a chuckle and an idea, he rushes off — although unavoidably crashing at everything in plain sight.

* * *

Later that night, Miles curls down to his haybed, feeling groggy from the events of today. Upon returning home, Aprie gave him an earful, but nonetheless happy to see Miles back. The Eevee then told him of the events of today, which, to his surprise, highly impressed the Nuzleaf, who gave Miles a pat on the head for kicking the behinds of 'those assholes who keep scaring everyone away from the river'. After their talk, the two bid goodnight, Aprie reminding him that he still had school tomorrow.

With a yawn, Miles starts to close his eyes, feeling the wash of sleep slowly overcoming; that is, until he heard a small knock on the window.

"Miles… psst, Miles!" groaning, the Eevee walked to the window, and upon opening, lo and behold, stood Raf.

"Raf… It's the middle of the night…" Miles yawns.

"I know, but… This just can't wait! C'mon!" The Riolu beckons the Eevee to step out, who half-consciously does. The two then set off to their usual spot, Big Tree Hill — sitting down below the tree as they usually do.

"Well… What is it, Raf?"

"I was just… thinking about today, y'know? Today made me want to become a society member even more — there's so much to see and do! I couldn't sleep thinking of all the possibilities… Then there's the chance that Mr. Chief will be granting us honorary membership to the society… I… I just can't believe this is happening."

"Yeah… I can't believe it either! And to think that I just moved here a few months ago…" The Eevee trails off. "But… Raf?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, since we're here… I've been thinking, ever since we got out of the dungeon… Do you really want someone like me to go exploring with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well… If you saw from today, I… don't really know what I'm doing. I don't have the slightest knowledge about dungeons or items or _anything,_ and it's just… I dunno. I feel like I'm going to hold you back from your dream. You already know so much, Raf. To even think of having a partner as clueless as me…" Eevee sighs out, the realization of the truth dawning on him.

"Miles… You know I don't care about that," he pauses, fixing his eyes on the Eevee. "No matter how clueless you are, how much you'll need help—I'll _always_ choose you over anyone else."

"Raf…"

"We made a promise, remember? Right here under this tree. To be partners. To explore the world together." He says softly. Reaching from in his bag, he grabs two pieces of fabric — both identical in coloration and size.

"What's that?"

"You see, Miles… I was also as clueless as you. I think everyone in town knows this already, but the truth is, pops is just my adoptive dad."

"Adoptive…?"

"Around 2 years ago… He found me floating on the waves, unconscious. When I woke up, I had no memories, aside from my name."

Miles ears perked up with this statement, realizing his similarity between Raf.

"The only hint of who I was before were these scarves, which were the only items in the bag i was floating with. Since then, pops took me in and treated me like his own."

Finishing, the Riolu remained silent. Miles slowly crawled nearer to Raf, placing his head on the Riolu's slumped shoulder.

"I—I'm sorry…" he whispers, earning a chuckle from Raf.

Raf then turns towards the Eevee, who was now sitting up. Standing, he takes one of the scarves and ties it around Miles' neck.

"There. It looks perfect on you!"

"Miles… This is…"

"I've kept the scarves as a sort of charm," he says. "I've always felt like I had to share them with someone. It's a strong intuition."

Miles tilts his head in wonder.

Raf continues. "Think of it as a symbol of our promise, ok? I've decided that the only partner I want is you, Miles!" He finishes as he ties his own scarf around his neck.

Miles faintly blushes at the bold statement, nodding.

"Raf… Thank you."

"For what?"

"For, you know, believing in me."

"I'll always will! That's what best friends are for!" His smile, bright, continues. "Promise we'll do this thing together, no more second doubts?"

"Promise."

* * *

 _ **A short and sweet chapter. I was debating on using the first actual mission (the one with Budew) over the Poliwrath one, but I used the second one anyways, lol.**_

 _ **Reviews are highly appreciated!**_


	8. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER 7**

 **Team Harmony**

* * *

The fresh breeze of morning drifted through Serene Village, the faint glow of morning light slowly creeping out.

From atop a hill, under a tree, slept two Pokemon. An Eevee and a Riolu, peacefully snoring, unaware of the rising day. Raf's back was rested against the big tree, Miles' head on his lap. Slowly, the Eevee opens his eyes, groggily standing.

"W-Where…?" Upon realization of their location, Miles bolts up, shaking the Riolu awake.

"Raf! Raf! Wake up!"

The Riolu opens his eyes with a yawn, staring at the Eevee with half closed eyes. "Miles? Why are you… Where are you…" The Riolu groans, opening his eyes.

"A-Ah! We fell asleep here!"

"That's what I was about to say!"

"Pops is gonna blow! I'm dead!"

The two hop up frantically, rushing to head back to their respective homes. Although panicking, the pair still made fun by having a little race, their eyes set on home.

Upon arriving, the Miles was pooled with a million questions from the Nuzleaf — who apparently thought the Eevee got kidnapped and was about to tell the town; Miles laughed at Aprie's overthinking, though the latter didn't find the matter as funny. He then asked at the scarf Miles had around his neck, which he described as 'pretty cool'. The Eevee happily told Aprie that it was a gift from Raf.

Raf, however, got a lucky break; he arrived home to a snoring Carracosta — Mon apparently slept late, and with a snicker, the Riolu crept near the latter's bed, surprising the Carracosta awake with a full-fledged _"Good Morning!"_ which made him bolt straight up awake, nearly hitting Raf with one of his flippers. He told off the Riolu for awakening him like he did, and asked why he was awake so early.

"Oh, no reason," Raf grinned. "Miles and I are meeting up with Mr. Chief today, so I'm pretty excited!"

"Oh, that explorer Ampharos?" Mon recalled the yellow Pokemon from the day before. "Don't tell me you're planning on going to another one of those dungeons again!"

"Nope, not today!" He assured. "Maybe soon though!" Mon groaned at the additional statement, still wary of yesterday's events. Upon looking back at the Riolu, however, he noticed him wearing the scarf from when he was found.

"Raf?" Mon's sudden change of tone confused the Riolu. "Your scarf…you're wearing it?"

"Oh, yeah!" Raf exclaimed, rather excitedly. "I finally found the one to share it with," he explained, a smile still on his face.

The Riolu's excitement softened the heart of the usually rough Mon; Raf posed stress and headaches for him, yes, but the kid was also like his son; he recalled the day Raf first opened his eyes upon being found, the poor Pokemon confused, afraid.

"You told me, remember?" Mon's thoughts were interrupted by the Riolu. "Back then...when you explained how you found me. You gave me the scarves, saying you felt like they were important, like they should be worn by two Pokemon."

The Carracosta let out a small laugh. "I guess I did, didn't I…?" Thinking, he got up and looked out the window to see Aprie and Miles bickering over something next door. He noticed the familiar colour and figure of a scarf around the Eevee's neck, and grinned upon realization.

"That Miles… He's really special to you, isn't he?"

"Yeah… He is."

* * *

"There's no school today, Miles, so it's the perfect day for exploring!" Raf suggested as the pair walked to town, their scarves flowing in the breeze of the morning.

"Well, yeah, but… Aren't we meeting with Mr. Chief today?" Miles reminded.

"Oh, right! I forgot!"

"Raf, Miles, there you are!" A Deerling and Goomy ran to them, excitement on their faces, with an Espurr following.

"Flora! Sammy! Prim! Good morning!" Miles greeted, the Riolu simply giving a smile and wave.

"You guys are crazy!" Sammy burst out; Raf and Miles gave him a confused look, unknowing of the context.

"What do you mean?" Raf asks, prompting the Goomy to flail about.

"Don't you know? You guys are the talk of the town! Word got around about how you two beat the Poliwrath brothers!" Flora explained, trying to keep Sammy at bay.

"Oh, that! It was nothing, really," Raf grinned sheepishly, earning a headbutt from Miles.

"What do you _mean_ nothing? We almost got decimated!"

"But we didn't, and that's what matters!" Raf piped up, the Eevee groaning with the statement.

"So you _did_ beat those three!" Sammy interrupted. "That's _sooo_ cool! Even Prim thought so too!" The statement caused the Espurr to hide a blush.

"Well, Mr. Chief did help us out at the end, remember?" Miles recalled one of the brothers preparing an attack, when the Ampharos dashed in.

"Oh, yeah, that! I thought we were going to be soaked dead!" Raf exclaimed. "But...have you guys seen Mr. Chief anywhere?"

"We did see him in the plaza a while ago," Flora says.

"Although he's probably wandered off again somewhere." Prim adds.

"Let's go then! Wanna come, Flora, Sammy, Prim?" Miles jumped up, all three giving a nod as they run to town.

Serene village at this hour was already bustling — the townsfolk ran around doing errands, and especially on school-off days, the children could be seen playing in the plaza.

"Look, it's Raf and Miles!" the friends were halted by a Teddiursa and a Budew, a Pancham and Shelmet following suit.

"Pin! Marie! Good morning!" Raf greeted the two younger residents of the city, who gave him a 'good morning' back.

"Good morning to you too, Cam, Bugsy," Miles smiled at the two behind Pin and Marie, the Pancham looking away for whatever reason.

"Yeah… whatever," Cam grunted.

"What he means to say is — 'good morning, Raf and Miles! You two are so cool for beating those Poliwrath!'" The Shelmet exclaims, causing Cam to blush in embarrassment.

"H-Hey! Bugsy! Shut up!"

Raf, Miles, Flora, and Sammy (and even Prim), all laugh at Bugsy's remark, the blush of shame intensifying on Cam's face.

"You _really_ think we're cool, Cam?" Raf snickered at the Pancham.

"Don't push it, mask-face!" Cam snaps, earning a grin from the Riolu.

"So, are you two going to do something fun today?" Pin asks, the Budew's face seemingly glowing with amazement at the two.

"Maybe," Miles answers. "You never know what the day brings, so we're going with that!"

The Budew and Teddiursa gaze in wonder at the pair, almost as if they were celebrities of the sort.

"By the way, have any of you seen Mr. Chief?" Raf's question pauses the scene.

"Mr. Chief? The Ampharos?" Bugsy recalls. "Yeah, we just saw him at Mr. K's shop — he should still be there."

"Perfect! Thanks, Bugsy! Wanna come along guys?" Miles suggests the group, and they run off to the said location.

Meanwhile, said Ampharos was just finishing up his duties at the stall; he digs up his connection orb from his bag, and swipes the orb as it seemed to glow, looking for a certain contact.

" _Chief? Chief, is that you?"_ A voice from the other end seemed to speak from the ball, its figure being projected from inside the orb.

"Chief here! Just wanted to check if everything's a-okay from our discussion yesterday!"

" _Yes, Chief! All done! It's mighty brilliant of you to introduce a junior division in our ranks! How did you come up with it?"_

"Let's just say… Serene village was way more colourful than I thought it already was!" He laughed. "Anyways, I have to go now. Chief, out!"

" _See you when you get back Chief!"_ And with that, the figure from the connection orb fades, and the object's glow fades.

"Mr. Chief!" The Ampharos looks around to see a group of Pokemon run to him — he recognizes most of them as the ones from the school, and two other younger villagers.

"Why, hello! Raf, Miles, children!" He greets.

"You said you wanted to meet us today, Mr. Chief?" Miles asks, curious, yet excitement tingling from his voice.

"Yes! Although we'd be pretty cramped here. Let's head to the plaza first," he suggests, the others nodding.

"E-Excuse me…?" Chief looks down to meet the eyes of a Teddiursa and a Budew, who, from what it sounded, were nervous.

"Ahh, hello you two! What is it?"

"A-Are you… Ampharos, the _Dashing Wanderer?_ " The Budew asks, emitting a squeak at the end.

"O-Oh!" Said Ampharos stood proud, thumping his chest with a fist. "Yes… That would be me!"

"W-Wow… So cool…" Marie's eyes sparkled with excitement, the Teddiursa looking at the Budew beside him, Pin making the same face as him.

Chief stood tall, eager to impress the younger pair. "Well, let's head off to the plaza, then!" He exclaims, failing to see a lampost behind him — and crashes with it head-on.

"The _Dashing Wanderer_ , more like the _Crashing Wanderer,_ " Cam snickers under his breath, Bugsy following. Raf snorted at the comment, but maintained his composure.

"Cam! Have some respect," Miles defends, the Pancham shrugging.

The scene seemed to unfaze Pin and Marie, however, as the two were still glimmering with awe at the Ampharos, who was shaking his head off a dizzy spell.

The group laughs it off, proceeding to the plaza. By then, the entire town was already out and about, the Pokemon greeting as they passed by the townsfolk. Questions of Raf and Miles' endeavor with the Poliwrath brothers were abundant, and the pair were slightly overwhelmed by the entire subject.

"You two are like celebrities!" Sammy piped up. The Riolu and Eevee let out an awkward laugh, unsure.

"Oh, by the way, I really like your scarves!" Flora chimed in, trying to ease the scene. Prim nods in agreement.

"You do? Thanks!" Raf gleefully answered, nudging Miles, who was also thanking the Deerling's statement.

"Here we are!" Chief suddenly exclaims, all eyes on him. "Everyone, please gather! I have an important announcement to make."

With that, the group halted and nearby Pokémoncame to crowd. The chatter was increasing, each speculating what was to come about.

"Will Raf and Miles please step forward?" Chief's smile didn't fade, as the two mentioned Pokémon slowly stepped forward, nervous of all the eyes on them.

"Y-Yes, Mr. Chief!"

"Yesterday, you displayed immense intuition and bravery. Not only did you think of returning a lost item to its rightful owner, but you _also_ beat the Poliwrath brothers, whose terrorizing, as I have learned, has been making the Pokémon of Serene Village unable to visit and enjoy the river," he finishes.

"Well, it's nothing really. We didn't expect any of that to happen, too!" Miles humbly, yet nervously responded. Chief shook his head.

"Nonetheless, faced with a dangerous situation, you showcased qualities only a true explorer would!"

The crowd's applaud filled the plaza, and masses of congratulatory statements filled the area, much to the duo's embarrassment.

"This is why, I, chief, now appoint you two as junior explorers of the Expedition Society!" The Ampharos exclaims.

Miles' and Raf's eyes shoot up with shock—and excitement, both looking at each other in assurance.

"Mr. Chief, are you serious?!" Raf cluldn't hold his happiness as the question was asked.

"Serious as I'll ever be!" Chief affirms, nodding his head.

"Miles, we did it! We're explorers!"

"Yay, yay, yay!" Miles leaps in excitement, the two running in circles.

"As junior members, your main duty is to fulfill requests of the townsfolk, and explore and find areas! Here are some of the things you will be needing," Chief explains as he hands the pair each a bag.

"Miles, look! We get a badge!"

"And a map of the region and some other cool things too! This is so cool!"

"Raf, Miles, that's amazing! You'll finally get your dream of being an explorer!" Flora beams.

"Well, _junior_ explorers," Cam mutters.

"Explorers nonetheless, though!" Sammy interjects.

"Must be nice," Prim smiles, the excitement of the pair contagious.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Chief!" The duo says in unison, their faces still gleaming.

"You can take this too! Think of it as a thank-you gift."

"B-But… Mr. Chief, isn't this _your_ connection orb?" Miles asks, puzzled by the sudden gift.

"Yes, but it's yours both now! I can always head back to the main base in Lively Town to get another one, so it's no biggie!" He affirms.

The duo thank the Ampharos again for the gift, Raf immediately tucking the orb in his bag. The surrounding crows cheers once again, as Miles and Raf run back to their group of friends.

"Well, what are you going to do now?" Flora asks, curious.

"Well isn't it obvious? We're going exploring! Right, Miles?" Raf exclaims, prompting a nod from the Eevee.

After the crowd dissipates after the excitement, the newly-appointed explorers say their thanks to the Ampharos once again, who shrugs it off as nothing.

"So, Mr. Chief, got anything for is to do?"

"Raf, don't be so rash!" Miles hushes the Riolu, was grinning back.

"Actually, there is!"

"Wait, really?!" Miles' ears suddenly shoot up in curiosity, making the Raf chuckle at the latter's prior attitude.

"I've received intel that a Sylveon is currently lost at the Forboding Forest; I was supposed to take the mission, but I'm sure you two can handle it!"

"We won't disappoint!" Raf assures. "Hey guys, wanna come with?" He glances to the rest of the group.

"We'd love to, but… Sammy, Prim, and I all promised Mrs. Kanga that we'd help around the café today," Flora explains.

"And me and Bugsy were asked by Mrs. Rosa and Mr. Cid to look after Pin and Marie here," Cam groans out.

"I mean, we wouldn't want Pin to run off like she did before…" Bugsy mutters out, the others wincing at the memory.

"I wouldn't need a babysitter if I evolved though!" Marie interjects, irritation in her voice. "But big brother doesn't want to," she puffs out.

"I-Is that so…? Well I guess we'll head out then," Raf waves off, as the group separates.

"Take care you two! Tell us everything when you get back!" Sammy waves off, heading to the café.

"Will do!"

"Don't mess this up, Raf," Cam grumbles as they wave away, the two younger Pokémon trailing behind.

"Hm? Did I just hear twig-sucker say something _remotely_ nice?" Raf snickers, earning a glare from the Pancham.

"Shut it mask-face!"

Giggling, the duo face back to the Ampharos, who was patiently waiting as the group said their 'see you's'.

"We're ready for that mission, Mr. Chief!"

* * *

The afternoon rolled in, just before the sun set. Raf and Miles just emerged from the forest, excited to report back of the mission's success.

"That was so much fun, right Miles?"

"Yeah! Helping other Pokémon out is so fulfilling!"

"That Sylveon was pretty generous, too! This is an entire week's worth of allowance!" Raf exclaims as he holds up a bag of coins, eager to count the Poké they've earned.

"I didn't even know we get paid to do this, though," the Eevee remarks.

"Well, that all depends on the client!" Turning, the pair leap back to see Chief standing before them.

"M-Mr. Chief! Where did you come from?!" Raf exclaims in shock, as the Eevee manages to recover his breathing.

"I was so eager to see you guys back, so I waited here all day!" So how was it?" The Ampharos' words were filled with glee and excitement, especially coming from two new recruits.

"It was a success, Mr. Chief! We gave the Sylveon an escape orb, so they should be home by now," the Eevee reports, Raf nodding as he does so.

"I knew you two could do it! Well, now that my full trust is in you, I'll have to bid farewell for now."

"F-Farewell?! Where are you going, Mr. Chief?" Raf questions in shock, not seeing the topic arise.

"I have some business to attend to in Lively Town, so I'll have to depart for now," he explains, a hint of disappointment in his voice.

"But we still have so much to learn from you…" Miles adds sadly, his eyes wavering.

"Don't worry! We'll definitely see each other again! As long as you have the connection orb, I can always get back to you!" He affirms, which seemed to lighten the duo's mood. "And as long as you make more and more connections, you'll learn tons from other Pokémon!"

"Can we go to Lively Town too, Mr. Chief?" Raf asks hopefully, the Eevee headbutting his friend's arm in response.

"Maybe soon, Raf! But for now, you have to focus on Serene Village, okay?"

"Okay…"

"That's settled then! I'll see you two soon!"

The Ampharos waves off as he walks away, leaving the pair saddened, yet hopeful. The thought of them visiting Lively Town in the near future uplifted their spirits, and as they waved off to the Ampharos, their faces cpuldn't help but smile with what was to come.

* * *

"So, did you tell your pops about today?" Miles asks, the pair on their usual spot at night, the silence of their environment calming to the mind.

"Yep! He was pretty hesitant about it, but agreed with as long as I didn't leave the village yet," he rubs his head sheepishly. "And I was about to go ask him if I could go to Lively Town too… How about Mr. Aprie?"

"He was the same… I guess they'll always be like that, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so too…"

"Speaking of which… Miles, since we're officially a team now, you got any ideas for a name?"

"A name…?"

"Yeah! All the best teams have cool names! Take team Sandstorm for example," Raf explains, the thought of the Tyranitar from a while back flashing in his mind.

"Mmm… I don't know. Have you thought of anything?"

"Well I think it should be something cool, like Blitz… or Fireball! Or something…" he suggests, seeing the Eevee space out at the sky.

"Miles…?"

"...Harmony."

"Harmony?"

"Yeah, Harmony! How does team Harmony sound, Raf?"

The Riolu grins at the other's suggestion, seeing his smile radiate. _"Keep it together, Raf."_

"Team Harmony, huh? Sounds like a name to me. It's perfect!" He nods in agreement, the Eevee jumping in excitement, nearly tackling Raf to a hug.

Instead, the pair stare off to the night sky, giving thoughts of what can happen tomorrow.

* * *

"Did you get all that down, every detail?" A voice ushers in the forest, receiving green flashes of light as a response.

"...Good. I'll give the signal to attack soon."

 _Green. Yellow. Yellow. Green._

"Yes. If we attack now, it'll cause too much ruckus. Especially since _that Ampharos_ was just here."

 _Red. Yellow. White. Red. Green._

"Soon…" the figure assures. "The master's plan will come to fruition."

* * *

 _ **Another (quite) long chapter. Hope you guys are enjoying this so far; next update will be sometime next week. I already have drafts/outlines ready for future chapters, so I basically just have to finish them one at a time.**_

 _ **Fun fact: Team Harmony was my team name in my play through...Ahh, I wanted to replay the game, but I couldn't bring myself to delete the saved file :(**_


	9. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

 **The Proof of Bravery**

* * *

 _Summer._ The sun hitting on skin, skies clear as the water. A few months have passed since Raf and Miles' official recognition as junior explorers, and the pair spent their time after school doing all sorts of missions for the townsfolk. They were most excited for summer, as the hot weather meant school was out; meaning — more explorations.

"Today's officially the first day of summer, Miles!" Raf exclaims, the duo walking around town, greeting Pokémon as they pass by.

"Are you sure you're off for today, Raf? Don't you have errands to do for Mr. Mon?" Miles wonders, awaiting the latter's response.

"Nah, I did _everything_ last night! I'm off chores for at least a week!" He affirms, pride in his voice.

The Eevee chuckles in response; it was exactly what Raf would do. He made sure to make a mental note about doing _his_ chores for Mr. Aprie; although the Nuzleaf only asked him to do minimal things, he thought it would be a nice change, especially for everything he's done for Miles.

"Besides, aren't we supposed to meet up with the others today?" Raf's statement interrupts the Eevee's thoughts, his attention immediately projected in looking for their friends.

"Yeah. Flora said it would be nice to spend the first day of summer together. I wonder what we're doing today?" Miles questions, all the while spotting the familiar faces of the Pokémon from school.

"Raf, Miles, there you are!" Sammy waves, the others looking back to greet the pair.

"Mornin' everyone! Happy summer!" Raf greets.

"Woah...Flora, you're green!" Miles points out the colour change of the Deerling, who happily trots around for the Eevee.

"Yep! Us Deerling, and our evolutions, Sawsbuck, change our coats depending on the season!" Flora explains.

"That's so cool!" Miles beams, prompting the Deerling to show off more of her coat.

"So, are we here to just stare at Flora, or what?" Cam's voice pierces the group, who snap off from enjoying Flora's mini show-off, Miles being the most affected.

"Oops… Sorry, Cam," Flora apologizes, the others laughing through the scenario.

"The beach is nice this time of the year, so let's head there first!" Sammy suggests, the group's nodding a sign of agreement as they rush to the shores of Serene Village.

Indeed, the beach was most refreshing this time of year, as the coolness of the waves splashed away the heat of the sun; said Pokémon were playing in the shallows, splashing water to each other. Sammy's disposition as a Goomy made him enjoy the water even more.

Hours of beach fun lasted, and before long, the afternoon approached the group, who were currently sitting in a circle, eating berries for lunch.

"So where should we go next? There's loads more time to play!" Sammy's question caused the group to talk about, thinking of ways to spend the rest of the day.

"I know!" Bugsy's exclamation shifted the group's attention to him. "We should go ghost hunting!"

"Ghost hunting?" Even Cam looked confused, urging the Shelmet to explain his suggestion.

"Well, I overheard Nurse Audrey, the school nurse, talk to the vice principal a few days ago. She said something about the lights flickering at the vice principal's office at night, even though he'd already left school premises."

"It could just be some sort of electric problem though," Flora interjects, "Plus, you don't really _believe_ in ghosts, do you, Bugsy?"

"Eh… I don't know. I'll know when I see one though! So what do you guys say?" The Shelmet says so otherwise.

"But… It'll be nightfall by then. Aren't we supposed to be at our homes before dark?" Sammy counters, prompting Bugsy to pause.

"Why not just sneak out, then?" Cam butts in; the Shelmet nodding in response. The group's faces turn hesitant, knowing the risks of the possible action.

"C'mon! It'll be fun! We'll just be there for a little while, then back home we go!" Bugsy insists, the Shelmet's face displaying excitement.

"I don't know…" Sammy ponders.

"It'll be fine! Unless you're _scared_ ," Cam teases the Goomy, who shakes his head in retaliation.

"I'm not scared! I'll prove it!"

Miles' look of concern gazed to the the Goomy. "Sammy… are you sure about this?"

Said Goomy nodded his head profusely, affirming his decision.

With a sigh, the rest of the group agrees. Satisfied, the Shelmet jumps ecstatically around Cam, who, similarly, grinned at the group's response. They then finish their lunch, and huddle together to plan for the evening's activities.

"Let's meet at the area behind the café, right after it closes. Make sure you don't get caught, got it?" Hesitantly, the group nodded at Cam's instructions. "Good. We sneak into the school and wait until Nurse Audrey leaves, since she's typically the last to leave."

"Well… What should we do before then? Like, right now?" Raf questions, seeing as the day was still quite early, not a hint of darkness in sight.

Prim speaks up, answering the Riolu's question: "Let's just enjoy the day for now. I hear Mrs. Kanga just added a new summer desserts menu."

"Sounds like a plan!"

* * *

The night sky stretches across the horizon, giving sight to the million of stars in the sky. Most of the Pokémon in Serene Village are either asleep, or closing up for the day.

Meanwhile, Miles slowly tiptoes toward's Aprie's room. The sound of the Nuzleaf's snore confirms he's asleep, and said Eevee slowly makes his way to his bedroom window, jumping out after checking if the coast was clear. He spots Raf climbing out of his window as well; and the two, in silence, dashes to the group's rendezvous point.

When they arrive, Cam, along with Bugsy, Flora, and Prim quietly greet them.

"Glad you two made it. We're all just waiting for Sammy," Flora whispers as she scans the area for any sign of the Goomy.

"Knowing the guy, he's probably hiding under his kitchen table in fright," Cam snickers, Bugsy joining, The Deerling glares at the two, but goes back to checking.

"There," Prim points out, and sure enough, Sammy was dashing to where they were.

"Sorry I'm late, guys. Mom is quite persistent in making sure I'm asleep before she goes to bed," he explains, panting from his run.

"Awww, does little Sammy-wammy like it when his mommy tucks him in?" Cam teases, following with another snicker.

"As if you don't," Prim says nonchalantly, causing the Pancham to turn red in shock (and slight embarrassment), which then the Sammy giggles at.

"Wh-Whatever! Let's just go!" He turns, stomping off toward the direction of the school. The others follow suit, cautious of any other townsfolk that might still be awake.

When they arrive, Flora suggests they hide in a cluster of bushes until the nurse leaves, whose office light was still on. The group agrees as they scamper to the location, making as little noise as possible; although once in a while, Cam and Bugsy would start to snicker for some reason, with Flora immediately hushing them with a smack of her hoof.

Moments later, they spot the Audino exit her office, and the group watches from behind the bushes as the nurse walked back to the path to town. They were alone now.

 _Or were they?_

"She's gone! C'mon!" Bugsy jumps out of their hiding spot, shaking off any leaves stuck to his body. The others follow.

"Where should we go first?" Miles asks.

"Well, since Bugsy said that the nurse and vice principal were talking about something in the office, we should go to the vice principal's office first," Sammy suggests, earning a nod of agreement from the rest.

Quietly as they can, they head off to the Watchog's office, which was a fair distance from where they hid. Passing by their outdoor classroom, the group pauses to look around.

"So… you guys believe in ghosts?" Cam asks as they continue walking, the cold night breeze flowing past them.

"There are ghost- _types_ , but ghosts as in _dead Pokémon_ ghosts, I'm not quite sure," Prim answers, the Pancham shrugging at the response.

"I wouldn't want to get scared by either though," Flora shudders at the thought of anything creeping up to her, the green in her fur slightly rising in chill.

Noticing the peculiar drop in temperature all of a sudden, Sammy shudders. "It's...uh…kinda cold…"

"Yeah, what's up with that? It wasn't this cold a while ago," Bugsy wonders as well.

"Heh, it's probably just Sammy being a scaredy-meowth again," Cam interjects, raising his two arms in a know-it-all fashion. The Goomy groans in annoyance, but lets it slide out of habit.

After their slight debacle, they make their way to their destination. Standing at the entrance of the office, the group huddles closer.

"Well? Should we go in?" Raf asks, noticing everybody standing still.

"It's...kinda dark in there…" Miles states, noticing the peculiar lack of visibility through the entrance. Peering through the side window, the Eevee confirms his thought. "I can't see _anything_ from here either…"

"Well of course not, it's basically the middle of the night," Bugsy pipes in, quite unbothered by the topic.

"W-Wait…" Sammy suddenly speaks up, his voice less audible. "Do...Do you guys hear t-that?"

The group suddenly goes silent, curious about the Goomy's statement. Listening intently with ears directed at the office, a very minute sound suspiciously fills their ears.

 _Tap. Tap. Creek._

 _Tap. Tap. Tap._

"It sounds like...walking?" Flora whispers to the others.

"But… there isn't anyone in there…" Miles adds, his voice filled with caution.

 _Creek._

"It...stopped," Prim says, her ears unable to pick up any more of the sound. "And I don't sense anyone in there, either."

"That's s-scary…" Sammy shudders, hiding behind the Espurr.

"You guys are a bunch of scaredy-meowths," Cam huffs. "C'mon, Bugsy. Let's go in and check it out," he motions to the Shelmet, who looked somewhat spooked.

"O-Okay…" Busy agrees, although hesitant. He follows after Cam, the Pancham looking unfazed by the entire thing.

The two head in, leaving the others behind to try and calm down Sammy, who was shivering beyond belief.

"Sammy, it's okay… It might've just been a Pokémon," Flora suggests. The Goomy slowly regained composure, his nerves still spooked.

"I-I hope so…"

"Cam, Bugsy! Anything in there?" Flora then slowly walks back to the entrance, calling for the two.

"There's nothing in here!" Bugsy answers back.

"Nothing we can see, that is," Cam snorts, the two slowly heading out of the office, darkness still surrounding their sight.

"H-Hey, Bugsy, stop that," Cam suddenly exclaims as the two walk back to the entrance.

"N-No, you stop it! You've been touching me since a while ago!"

"B-Bugsy…?"

"Yeah…?"

"I...I haven't been touching you…" Cam's voice lowers, his body frozen in fright.

"I-I haven't as well…" The Shelmet's addition was just as low, a shudder in both of theirs.

"Cam…? Bugsy…? Is something wrong?" Flora calls out again, hearing the two murmur in silence.

"F-Flora…?" Cam answers back, fear imminent in his voice.

"C-Cam… I—I can't move…!" Bugsy's sudden realization was too late, his body still stuck in the darkness.

"B-Bugsy…? W-Where are you…? I can't move either," Cam tries to reach out to where Bugsy's voice came from, to no avail.

"Cam! Bugsy!" The Deerling calls out a third time.

"Flora? What's wrong?" Miles rushes to her side, Flora looking panicked.

"I-It's Cam and Bugsy! Something's wrong!"

"They're probably pranking us again," Raf rolls his eyes. "Cam's probably laughing his butt of by now."

"Wait," Prim's eyes suddenly glow a faint blue — this reminded Miles of the Drowzee from the dungeon, whose eyes glowed similarly when using its psychic powers.

"I don't sense them inside," she alertly heads into the office, her glowing eyes visible. "Flash!"

The room then fills with light, Prim's ears raised. The others rush in and follow, scanning the room for any sign of the Pancham and Shelmet.

"Cam! Bugsy!" Flora calls out; no answer.

"W-Where are they? The only entrance and exit was from where we got in…" Sammy shudders again, attaching himself to the Espurr.

"Woah, look!" Raf points to the center of the office. Inspecting it closer, they notice a peculiar mark engraved on the floor — a smiley face.

"G-Guys… I'm scared…" Sammy breathes out, his voice shaking.

"...Hm," Prim inspects the mark closer, her eyes glowing blue once again.

"It seems they both were taken, and whoever did presumably teleported them somewhere else," her eyes continued to glow blue as she explained.

"T-Teleported…? Where…?" At this point even Raf was quivering, although he tried to restrain it.

"...Prim?" Miles' face displayed worry, as well as fright.

"...This energy… I've only ever felt it on one other place in the village," she finally says, eyes intent to the others.

She slowly inhales deeply, showing a slight display of chill and caution.

"...The Ancient Barrow."

* * *

It's the middle of the night, and five Pokémon stand in front of a large dead tree in the perimeter of town, a large 'Keep Out' sign noticeable.

"A-Are you sure about this, Prim…?" Raf gulps, obviously nervous.

"I can sense them inside. I'm positive," she answers, caution in her tone.

"R-Raf…? What is this place…?" Miles shudders, standing close to the Riolu.

"The Ancient Barrow… it's the oldest landmark here in town. Pops says it's already been here even when he was a child…. and even before that."

Shivering, Sammy adds: "I-If there's any chance ghosts exists… I-It'll be h-here."

Gulping, the Eevee shuffles closer to Raf, who was also visibly scared. Glancing at the others, he notices that everyone is; even Prim.

"I...I'm scared…" Flora breathes out, legs shaking. Her green fur all stand on edge, head laid lower. "S-Should we really do this…?"

Everyone remains in silence, gulping. The aura of fear is imminent within the five, as they continue to stare at the old, antique-rustic styled door, the frame chipped from age, the door itself tainted by how long it's been there. The chains that act as its hinges are nothing but rust, and they shake ever so slightly as the night wind passes through.

Sammy suddenly steps forward; his face, although clearly scared, showed determination, as he makes his way to the door, turning to his friends.

"W-We can't just stand here! C-Cam and Bugsy...they need our help…! They might be a pain s-sometimes...but…"

"Sammy's right…" Prim continues. "If we leave them here, who knows what's gonna happen…"

Taking a deep breath, Flora speaks up as well: "Y-You're right! We can't let fear get in the way of saving our friends!"

Miles and Raf nod, joining in. "We need a plan to make this work though… We can't just barge in and expect it to be easy…" Miles contemplates, urging the others to think.

"This will be tough…" The Espurr states. "The Barrow, theoretically, should have a multitude of ghost Pokémon, and maybe other types. That being said…"

"I-I can help with the ghost types with Feint Attack," Flora interrupts, recomposing herself.

"We'll back you up, then. Sammy and I can help out. Miles, since your known moves won't work against ghost types, you can be lookout and support, and attack any non-ghosts," Prim explains, the Eevee nodding in understanding.

"As for Raf…"

"Don't fret! I know Foresight, so I should be able to hit ghost-types!" He fists up, seemingly on fire.

"Great," Prim, impressed at Raf's countermeasures, nods. "We'll all cover each other's backs, then. You guys ready?"

"Ready!"

* * *

Just as they expected, the Barrow was filled with ghost-type Gastlys and Phantumps, as well as some Zubats. All of them, although still clearly afraid, trudged onwards deeper into the dungeon.

"Feint Attack!" Flora's hit blows back a Gastly, who then dissipates into the air, fleeing. Miles hand her an Apple, which she happily chews on.

"The deeper we go, the scarier it gets…" Miles observes, noticing the interior walls of the dungeon darken compared to when they first entered.

"They're very close though. I can feel their energy," Prim assures.

"I hope so… I can't wait to get outta here," Raf crosses his arms. At that moment, he fails to detect a Pokemon suddenly enveloping him with a purple-tinged gas, which quickly enters his system.

"Raf!" Miles suddenly exclaims, charging at the attacker with a Tackle, appearing to be a Koffing. The Koffing shakes off the attack, readying itself for another Poison Gas.

"Oh no, you don't! Dragon Rage!" Sammy opens his mouth wide, releasing a blazing orb of blue and purple, which instantly made the attacker flee.

"...T-Thanks guys — urk…!" Raf's body suddenly collapses, supporting himself on his arms.

"Oh no… you're poisoned!" Miles immediately digs through his bag, pulling out an Oran Berry.

"That won't do…" Prim shakes her head. "We need a Pecha Berry…"

"That's bad news," Flora speaks up. "Pecha Berries grow in open areas, not in caves, unlike Oran Berries, which can grow anywhere…"

Coughing, the Riolu tries to stand. "I-I'll be okay… T-This is nothing…"

"It's not _nothing_ , Raf!" Miles rushes to his aid, providing support for the Riolu, allowing the latter to lean on him to stand.

"S-Should we head back and grab one?" Flora suggests, although quite hesitant about it.

"N-No…" Raf coughs up again. "The faster we finish here… The faster we get out…"

"B-But Raf…" Miles looks at him with desperate eyes, which the Riolu looks away from.

Hesitantly, the group moves on, agreeing to cover Raf, who was still being supported by Miles. The said Eevee kept a lookout for any poison-healing items, to no avail.

A few floors deeper, the group stumbles upon a small clear area in the dungeon, prompting them to rest for a while. Miles drops to the ground in exasperation from helping Tiolu up, and Raf falls down on one knee, breathing rapidly.

"We should have gone back to get a Pecha…" Flora voiced out her concern at the Riolu.

"N-No… We're—we're almost there…"

"...Raf…" Sammy adds to the worry.

"I can sense them," Prim suddenly stands alert. "They're right ahead… But…" the Espurr pauses, looking rather disturbed.

"Prim…? What is it…?" Miles asks as he chews on an Apple, eager to satiate his fatigue.

"They're… They're not alone…" This silences the group, as they stare at each other, as if affirming their decision to move on. Raf stands awkwardly, Miles rushing to his side once again.

"Easy, Raf… You can't stand on your own," he gently pushes up the Riolu, who, again, leans on him for support.

"Let's… Let's go get those two and head out," Raf groans out. The others, nodding, trudge on to the next room, cautious with their every step.

"...Prim, what did you mean by 'they're not alone'?" Flora questions the Espurr's prior statement, who bites her lip in response.

"I don't know… Just… Be ready for anything," she says, unsure of what to say. The others nod with the statement.

"Cam… Bugsy… we're coming for you…"

* * *

The slow trickling of water from the stalactites attached on the dungeon ceiling echoed throughout the room — the group, leaded by Prim, carefully made their way into the last level of the Ancient Barrow, light curiously peeking from miniscule spaces on the ceiling.

"They're here…" Prim abruptly stops, looking around. "...But I don't seem to see them anywhere…"

Stopping, the rest of them start to look around and call for the two, unaware of what's watching them.

Raf detaches himself from Miles, and proceeds to sit on the floor, breathing still rapid. Miles immediately hands him an apple, the latter groggily taking a bite off the fruit.

"I can't find them too… A-Are they really here?" Flora shivers, the cold aura of the cave getting into her skin.

Sammy suddenly freezes, his eyes fixated above. He gulps, shuddering, and breathes out: "G-Guys…? L-Look up…"

When they do, they all freeze in place, in fear and shock. High above them were the unconscious bodies of Cam and Bugsy, seemingly suspended in mid-air. Their figures were outlined by a faint blue light, which Prim took notice of.

"They're being held by Psychic…" Prim states. "I'm trying to reach them, but the holder's power is too strong for me…"

"S-So that means… Someone else is here…" Miles concludes, still looking up at the two.

Raf huffs, pushing himself pit. "F-F…"

"Raf! Don't exert yourself," the Eevee reprimands, but Raf moves him off.

"F...Foresight —" an invisible force emits out of the Riolu's body, passing through the entire party. When the force reaches the Pancham and the Shelmet, five peculiar Pokémon suddenly appear, surrounding Cam and Bugsy. Two of the Pokémon seem like purple floating heads, adorned with jewels on a cloth-like appendage. Two other Pokémon looked like street lamps, both blazing a curious blue fire within them; their pole-like hands seemingly changing in form. The final Pokémon, positioned in between Cam and Bugsy, appeared like a bandaged entity, with large hands distinct from the other four. It had a single eye, which was glowing with a tint of blue.

"W-What are those…?" Miles steps back, freezing as the Pokémon with the single eye stares at him.

"The one at the center is a Dusclops…" Prim starts. "The smaller ones are Misdreavus, and then two Lampents…"

"W-What do they want with Cam and Bugsy…?" Flora shidders, the two Misdreavus starting to circle the said Pokémon, emitting what sounded like snickering.

"T-They look scary…" Sammy states, still frozen in place. "B-But we still need to save Cam and Bugsy…!" The others nod. Miles slowly assists Raf in lying down, the Riolu exhausted out.

"Let go of our friends!" Prim exclaims, firing a Psybeam at the ghosts, who dodge it with relative ease. The two Misdreavus snickers, both firing dark orbs of energy.

"Look out! That's Shadow Ball!" Flora pushes the Espurr out of the way, taking the hit.

"F-Flora!"

"It's okay! I'm part normal-type, so ghost attacks won't hurt me."

"W-What do we do, Prim?" Sammy, still in place, asks, noticing the Misdreavus readying another Shadow Ball.

"We fight back! Miles, don't loose your eyes on Raf, too!" Prim exclaims, earning a nod from the others. Miles falls back, covering for Raf, who was still passed out on the ground.

The Misdreavus launch their attack, and again, Flora covers. She then jumps up to one of the two, launching a Feint Attack. It hits the Misdreavus, but quickly recovers, firing a wave of pink energy to the Deerling, knocking her back.

"That was Psywave!" Prim mentions. As she does, the Lampent start to move as well, blasting small red projectiles. Noticing this, Prim alerts the Deerling; "Flora, look out! They're going after you with Ember!"

Hearing this, tries to get up in time, failing. Closing her eyes for impact, Sammy suddenly gets in front of her.

"Bubble!" The Goomy inhales deeply, blowing out bubbles as he pushes out air. The attacks collide with each other, effectively stopping the ember.

"Nice call, Sammy! Thanks!" Flora gets up, hi-fiving the Goomy.

Meanwhile, Miles stops himself from interfering, knowing well that none of his moves work against ghost-types. He instead stick closer to Raf, whose breathing was still drastic.

"Raf… I-I wish I could help them…" mumbling to himself, he sees the other three dodge another barrage of attacks from the Misdreavus and the Lampents. Although they counterattack, the sheer fact that their enemies outnumber them prove to be difficult.

Raf groans, slowly opening his eyes. "M-Miles…"

"Raf! D-Don't get up! You'll hurt yourself!"

"T-The Dusclops…"

Miles' ears perk, focusing his attention to the Dusclops. _"If I can somehow reason with him, then maybe…!"_

Running below the Pokémon, Miles presents himself. "H-Hey! Dusclops!"

The said Pokémon looks down upon the Eevee, glaring at him. Miles shakes the fear out of him, continuing.

"P-Please stop this! You're hurting my friends!"

Floating down to his level, the Dusclops' glare stares intact at the Eevee.

"You brang this upon yourselves. You shouldn't have come here," it speaks, although Miles was unsure from where.

"Y-You think we'd leave our friends behind?! How would you feel if one of your friends' lives were threatened?!"

"We're ghosts, Eevee. We're already dead," he points out, the Eevee flinching at the response. "Even so… these… _friends_ … of yours. They tease you, make fun of you. Yet, you still call them as such?"

Miles gulps. "S-Sure, Cam and Bugsy may not be the best in being friendly. Sure, they make fun of me, of Raf, of Sammy… But I know they're my friends because if they weren't, why would they play with us? Why would they go out of their way to spend time with us if they didn't consider _us_ their friends?"

"Enough of this! They're _ours_ now!"

"But… But why…?! Why would you deliberately take away our friends from us? Look!" Miles motions to the scene happening behind them — Prim, Flora, and Sammy all look clearly exhausted, but still fight back with all they have. The Misdreavus and Lampent have been fatigued as well, but still continue to attack.

The Dusclops observes the scene before him — each one struggling to dodge, each one striggling to get up after being hit; but all still seem to push through, even though it would seem like they would pass out pretty soon. Looking back to Miles, he notices the determination in his eyes; the determination to save his friends.

" _Did… Did I do it?"_

"Sorry, kid. It's nothing personal. We do what we have to do," clasping its hands together, the Dusclops creates a dark energy between its hands.

" _I… I guess I didn't. Sorry, Cam, Bugsy. Sorry, Prim… Flora… Sammy."_ Closing his eyes, readying for the impact, he gulps. _"Sorry… Raf."_

"Dark Pulse." The energy is released from the Dusclops, as rings of black blast through the air, towars the Eevee.

Just before it hit, however, a figure suddenly blocks the pulse from its path to Miles. The Eevee, not feeling the impact, opens his eyes in confusion.

There, he stood — Raf, collapsing shortly.

"R-Raf…!" Miles' exclamation diverted the other's attention to him, and upon seeing the scene, they widen their eyes.

Rushing to his side, Miles quickly retrieves a small seed from his bag, gently prying open the Riolu's mouth to put it in. Miles frantically nudges Raf's side, an extreme worried look on his face.

A few seconds later, Raf groans, albeit still lying on the ground. "M-Miles…?"

"R-Raf… Rafael, you skullhead! What did you do that for…?! You're _already_ hurt beyond measure — to pull off something like this…!"

"Ughhh… Gimme a break," he grumbles, but does a light chuckle afterward. "A thank you would be nice." The Eevee, teary eyed, smacks the Riolu's head as response.

"Hey, that hurt!" — Nevertheless, Miles lets out a sigh of relief.

Unbeknownst to the two, the Dusclops was watching everything unfold — he was confused as to why the Riolu, which he thought was already out of the way, managed to still help his friend. He was shocked to think that such action was possible; yes, the Riolu was a fighting type, so Dark Pulse wouldn't do as much damage, but he was _already_ passed out a mere minutes ago.

Did he somehow sense the Eevee's need?

Was _this_ real friendship?

Putting his arms down, the Dusclops slowly approaches the duo. Miles jumps in alert, displaying a fighting stance; although knowing very well he can't do anything to the Dusclops.

"Riolu."

Raf, still lying down, glances at the Dusclops. "Hey there…?"

The Dusclops continues. "Why would you block my attack, knowing fully well that you're in no such condition to do so…?"

Raf closes his eyes, thinking. He grins, helping himself to sit up, still wary of the effects of poison.

"Easy. Miles is my friend, and I'd do anything for him. I'm sure he'd do the same for me."

Upon hearing the explanation, the Eevee releases a small tear, realizing that he _was_ right. That he _would_ do the same in a heartbeat if they swapped positions.

The Dusclops motions his hand to the Misdreavus and the Lampents, and as he does, they approach him, leaving the three still confused.

"I may have mistaken what being… a friend meant," the Dusclops glances at his comrades.

"Consider this as my way of thanking you for helping me understand." He looks up to the Pancham and Shelmet, slowly bringing them to the ground. He releases them, and the two sleeping bodies lie safely on the ground.

The Misdrevus and Lampents look at him, confused.

"It's alright. Are you feeling fine?" The four nod in response, seemingly understanding the situation.

Prim, Flora, and Goomy all run to Miles and Raf's side, curious.

"Miles? What hapened here?" Flora asks, a slight fatigue in her voice.

"I...I'm not quite sure…"

"We owe you our apology. It wasn't right for us to take your friends," the Dusclops says, motioning to the others; the Misdreavus and Lampents doing the same.

"I guess it's alright…?" Sammy answers, questionably.

"Would you care to explain, though?" Prim asks. "Especially since everything happened very recently."

"Of course," answers the Dusclops, nodding his head. "My name is Horus. Accompanying me are these two Misdreavus, Charm and Hex, and these two Lampent, Torch and Lent. We originally resided at the Drilbur Mine near here, but left in search of fresh food sources."

"Food...sources?" Miles raises an ear on the statement. The Dusclops nods.

"Yes. You see, our main source of energy is fear; we use our natural appearance as ghosts to scare others — these emotions of fear are then converted into an energy we can digest. Without it, our tangible forms cease to exist, and all that will be left is our spirit energy."

"S-So… you deliberately scare others to feed?" Raf clarifies.

"Yes. In this situation, however, we have gone for weeks without enough fear to satisfy all five of us. So when you went to the school, we saw an opportunity to maximize fear levels, and went for it."

"You could have just told us…" Sammy breathes a sigh of relief, albeit still a bit spooked.

"Our apologies — we admit we went a bit too far with the whole attacking thing."

"Yeah… You did," Prim nonchalantly replies, eyes closing.

"And to you too, Eevee. I was quite irritated by how you portrayed 'friendship'. I thought I knew all about it, but clearly…" Horus glances at the Riolu, who let out a weak smile, although still poisoned. "... I don't."

"I'm just glad we could end this," Miles assures. "And one thing… you can call me Miles!"

"And I'm Raf."

"I'm Sammy!"

"Prim. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Flora, and these two sleeping are Cam and Bugsy… although I guess they're in dreamland right now…"

"It's nice to officially get to know you," he says, and the other four float around them, greeting each one.

"Well… I guess it's time to head out," Flora reminds. "Who knows what time it is…"

"Yeah…" Raf groans. "Pops is gonna kill me…"

"If it's not too much, we could escort you out," Horus suggests. The Misdreavus and Lampents all nod in agreement.

"That would be great!"

* * *

When they open their eyes, the group see themselves back out the dungeon. Cam and Bugsy slowly open their eyes, and immediately jump up.

"Ah! Guys! Watch o...ut?" Bugsy's confusion heightened upon seeing the Dusclops and his comrades.

"What happened here?" Cam asks, yawning from his nap.

"Loooong story, Cam," Sammy answers. "It would be best if we all returned home for now, though."

They all agree, although Cam and Bugsy were beyond confused. Raf was still struggling to get up, prompting the Eevee to rush to him for support.

"Raf, take this," Horus hand him a seed, urging him to eat it. "It's a heal seed; it should be able to get rid of the poison."

"Heh… Thanks!" Raf swallows the seed whole in a gulp, and almost immediately, he breathes in relief, his body feeling lighter. He slowly lifts himself up, Miles helping him in the process. Giving his usual arm-raise as an 'a-okay' sign, he shakes his feet to regain any lost sense.

The group, relieved about Raf's condition, all give a smile of thanks to the Dusclops.

"It's the least I could do after all we've done," Horus says, calmly. You should all head home now; if you ever feel the need to visit us, don't hesitate. The barrow will be our new home, as well as this town… if that's okay."

"It'll be great to have new townpokémon!" Sammy affirms. "We'll be sure to visit again soon! The barrow _was_ a pretty cool place… well, aside from the whole poison gas thing."

"I'm sure the town would love to have you guys," Prim speaks up, tired, but relieved. "Just make sure to make ammends anytime you scare others. It's understandable, since it's what you eat."

"...Just make sure not to take it too far, though," Flora finishes with an awkward laugh.

"We'll be sure! We'll be sure!" Charm and Hex say in unison, almost sounding like some high-pitched chimes.

"We're off then," Miles yawns, shaking his body. "I'm pretty pooped. Any later and uncle could catch me in the act…"

"I just hope pops is still asleep…" Raf stresses.

"H-Hey…! We still don't know what happened!" Cam interjects, earning a glare from Flora.

"We're all tired, Cam. Let's talk about it tomorrow," she yawns, softening her look. The Pancham could only grumble and sigh in response.

"That's a goodnight then," Prim states. The group start walking back to their homes, waving their good-byes to the new townsfolk. Dusclops and the others transport themselves back into the barrow, disappearing from sight. Shortly after, the group headed their separate ways, a shroud of 'see you tomorrows' later.

"What a night," Miles sighs, the pair heading to the direction of their houses.

"Wasn't it fun, though?" Raf perks, acting as if nothing life threatening happened to him just a while ago.

"Yeah… you could say it was."

"Exploring sure is fun," Raf yawns. "...and tiring."

"...By the way, Raf?"

"Yeah?" The two pause just outside Miles' home, the latter eager to throw himself down to his bed.

"T-Thank you. For what you did back there."

"Anytime, Miles."

With a last smile and yawn, the Riolu waves good-night to the Eevee, headed towards his own house. Miles seemed to recollect everything that happened tonight, happy it all ended in the best way possible. Looking towards the Riolu, he smiles, heading back to his house, careful not to make any noise.

* * *

Raf gulped. He wished on all the stars above, Jirachi, Mew, Arceus, _whoever,_ that Mon was still asleep.

Slowly, he tiptoes his way to his room — seeing no sign of the Carracosta, he sighs a breath of relief, walking nonchalantly to his bed —

Unknowing of the figure standing in his room.

"...I was wondering where you went."

' _...gulp'_

* * *

 _ **This was a LONG chapter. And I mean long. Almost 6K words long. Holy guacamole. Sorry it took so long, lmao. Oh, and was the ending too cliché? I'm worrying about it too much. I plan on adding darker themes as the story progresses, but I wanted to stick to something lighter, since it's still quite early.**_

 _ **Also, if you see any errors (spelling, grammar, whatever), feel free to message me so I can edit it ASAP. I suck at proofreading.**_

 _ **A review would be nice, too ;)**_


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